10 Things I Hate About You
by withgirl
Summary: High School AU, Zelena is not allowed to date until Regina does. When it becomes clear that she won't be planning to do so any time soon, Zelena, with the help of Robin, hatches a plan to get someone to go out with her. If you've seen the movie this is based on you probably know what's going to happen XD [Regina x Emma pairing] Rating just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Just to avoid confusion I should probably explain that Regina is older than Zelena in this fic XD**

Chapter One

Regina rolled her eyes deeply as she leaned against the side of her car with her best, and only, friend Mal leaning next to her and smirking.

"What are you pouting about, Gina?" Mal laughed.

"What do you think?" the shorter girl said with an exasperated sigh, "what could Zelena possibly be doing that could make her twenty minutes late?"

"You have got to loosen up," the other girl said while she rolled her eyes, and then added, "just because your sister has a thriving social life that we could only dream of."

Regina sighed and fell back harder against the side of her Mercedes, "I just wish that she didn't crash her car, mom said that she won't be getting a new one until senior year. Somehow I ended up as her personal chauffeur."

"What is the worst that could happen if she had to walk home?"

"She would go crying to dad and he would always side with his 'little princess'," she replied mockingly.

"You're being dramatic, just because Zelena is two years younger, it doesn't mean that she is automatically the favourite."

"It's not that I think she's the favourite, mom and dad just treat her that way because she acts like a moron and they feel the need to protect her from the big bad world."

"You have got to stop being so bitter, do you really want me to be your only friend for the rest of senior year?" Mal teased as she hit Regina lightly with her elbow.

"I am quite content with the way things are at the moment," Regina sighed and her companion just smirked.

Mal was about to reply, when there was a thundering sound from the sky and rain began to fall rapidly upon those still in the car park of Storybrooke high.

Regina scowled deeply as her friend began to laugh, "you're on your own Mills," she announced and then went off in search of her own car.

"You are a terrible friend!" the soaking girl shouted, which earned her a thumbs up from Mal as she turned around quickly and then went back to running towards her car.

Regina rolled her eyes and began rooting through her bag for her keys, but half way through, someone shot past her on a skateboard, straight through a puddle that was still there from the rain storm of a few hours ago. As the water splashed her, she growled deeply and looked after the blonde girl who didn't even bother to turn back and say sorry.

"Hey!" she shouted.

The girl turned around and Regina nearly forgot how to talk when she realised that it was Emma Swan, Storybrooke's resident badass, but a moment later she shouted, "what the hell is wrong with you?!"

The blonde slowed her board down but was still rolling away from the girl she had just attacked with water, "sorry princess," she called and then violently pushed her foot against the ground, shooting off in the direction of the exit.

Regina cleared her throat and then scowled down at her wet clothes.

"What happened to you?" someone asked behind her.

The brunette narrowed her eyes and then turned to face her sister, "you happened, now get in the car!"

Zelena scowled at her sister and shook her head, "Killian said he'll meet me here, he said he has something important to ask me."

"If it's that important, then I'm sure that he can remember it until tomorrow," she replied and then finally managed to open the car door and motion for the younger girl to get in.

"This could be important, Regina," Zelena almost whined.

"I highly doubt it," she shot back, "I want to go home and I have no qualms driving away without you."

The red head rolled her eyes and was about to get into the car when she heard a distinct set of footsteps from behind her, she turned and smiled broadly at the footballer she'd had a crush on since they'd met.

"Hey Killian," she said almost if she was in a trance.

He shot her one of his signature smiles with a slightly quirked eyebrow, "I'm glad you waited."

Regina rolled her eyes again and sighed heavily, "look, it is obvious that you want to ask her out, so I should probably just fill you in: she isn't allowed to date. You would be wasting your time even attempting to plan something," she then turned to her sister and added, "if you would rather walk home, in the rain, then I'll quite happily leave you here so you can live out your clichéd life."

With that, she turned and got into the driver's side of the Mercedes, and proceeded to wait a few seconds before starting the engine as a warning to the girl who had yet to move.

"Sorry about my sister, she's a sociopath," Zelena sighed and jumped slightly as Regina beeped the horn.

Killian just nodded and pointed at the car, "you should probably go right?"

The red head nodded with slightly slumped shoulders and viciously yanked the passenger side door open and fell into the seat. Looking out the window, she offered the footballer a small wave, but before he could even raise his hand, the car was already moving.

* * *

"You are a terrible sister!" Zelena shouted as she slammed the front door closed behind her.

Regina didn't even bother to look behind her as she replied, "because I didn't want to wait in the rain as you flirted with Killian Jones, if you ask me, you should be thanking me."

"I didn't ask you!" the red head shouted, continuing to follow her sister into the living room, "just because you have absolutely no grasp on popularity, it doesn't mean that you have to try and take mine away."

The brunette finally turned to look at the other girl and narrowed her eyes, "do you really want to be just another cheerleader who goes out with a footballer?"

"Yes!" Zelena shouted.

Regina was about to make a scathing reply, but they were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and the entrance of Henry Sr. and and Henry Jr., otherwise known as their father and fourteen year old brother.

"What is going on?" the older of the two Henry's asked, the happenings of a teenage girl may have been beyond him, but he could still tell when one of his daughters was about to attack the other one.

Zelena turned around and her expression instantly changed to one of hurt when she saw that it was her father.

"She embarrassed me in front of Killian and now he's probably never going to ask me out," she cried and ran forward into her father's arms.

Henry Jr. raised his eyebrow and looked over at Regina, they shared an exasperated look, and he just shook his head, going off in the direction of the kitchen, this was certainly not something that he was interested in.

Regina rolled her eyes at her little brother and whispered, "traitor," as he walked past her, which earned her a chuckle from the brunette boy.

Zelena pulled away from her father and said, "I can go out with Killian, right?"

"You're still being punished for your car," Regina announced and the red head turned around to scowl at her sister.

The younger girl then turned back to her father and pouted, "please, daddy."

Henry swallowed hard and considered his options, he had heard a lot about Killian Jones, none of it particularly good.

"I told you that you're not allowed to date until senior year," he replied after a moment.

Zelena stomped her foot and pouted further, "that's not fair, Regina went out with Daniella when she was a junior."

Regina narrowed her eyes at her sister, mentioning her ex-girlfriend had become somewhat of a taboo in their household, mostly because of how much it pissed the older girl off.

"That was very different," Regina growled, but didn't offer any elaboration.

Henry Sr. sighed, he knew that Zelena was just trying to irritate her sister now and he could admit that she went too far, "you are not allowed to date."

"Ever?" the red head blanched.

"We've been through this, Zelena," he sighed deeply, "you have to wait."

"But Killian will be in college before then," she cried.

"I don't think there's much danger of that happening," Regina quipped.

Zelena's face was consumed by anger and she leapt forward, pulling them both onto the couch, "you are the worst sister ever!" she shouted as she tried to hit her only to be constantly blocked by the brunette's forearms.

Henry Sr. rolled his eyes and easily pulled his youngest daughter off his oldest and held out his hand to stop her from another attack.

"This is not your sister's fault Zelena," he announced, "you are not allowed to date until senior year."

"But that is not fair," she cried, "Regina dated before senior year and you let Henry go out with Violet last week, why are you victimising me?"

Henry Sr. thought about this for a moment, he could hardly deny the hypocrisy, but at the same time, he didn't like the thought of Zelena dating.

"You're right," he sighed and watched as the red head's face lit up, and though he knew that this couldn't end well, it was the only solution that he could think of in that moment. "You can go out with Killian when Regina gets a girlfriend."

Zelena's face went from one of hope to one of complete disbelief, "that isn't fair."

"You were complaining that Regina is allowed to date and you're not, so this is the clear solution."

"But…there aren't any other gay girls at Storybrooke high," she countered, almost begging her father to think this through.

"You can't know that for sure," Henry replied, "but if it is true, then I suppose you will have to wait until your sister is in college."

Zelena looked at Regina almost pleadingly, as if she would lie about having a girlfriend, but she just crossed her arms and smirked at her sister.

With a huff and a stamp of her foot she shouted, "you are ruining my life!" and then ran off to her room.

Regina looked up to her father in shock and a moment later they heard the front door open, and within seconds Cora was standing at the entrance to the living room.

The mayor of Storybrooke looked between the two of them and said, "what happened?"

The younger brunette jumped up from the couch and said, "dad just basically told Zelena she can never date."

* * *

-The next day-

Will Scarlet leaned against the wall next to General Office and waited to find out who he was supposed to be a 'buddy' to. He knew that the only reason he had agreed to take part in this programme was because he would get extra credit, but he was legitimately afraid that he would get someone who would have the urge to beat him up.

A moment later, the door opened and a teenage blond boy walked out of the office, he looked like he belonged with the footballers, but at the same time, he wore an expression that allowed his nervousness to shine through, he decided that he at least deserved a chance.

"Robin Lockesley?" he asked.

The blond looked up and smiled at the boy, "I suppose you're Will?"

The brunette boy nodded in response and said, "ready for your tour?"

Twenty minutes later, Will had shown the new boy as much as he possibly could without overwhelming him and they were currently sat in the courtyard inspecting all of the people who currently had a free period.

Robin looked around at the people who would be going to school with for the better part of two years and he had to admit that the most approachable person he had met so far had to be Will. Turning to him, he asked, "so what else can you tell me?"

Will raised his eyebrow and looked around, "I've already told you almost everything…"

"You know what I mean," Robin laughed.

The brunette let out a sigh and nodded, "Killian Jones is the quarterback, Kathryn Nolan is the head cheerleader…"

"And are they together?"

Will shook his head and explained, "they went out last year but ended up breaking up. Killian is currently after Zelena Mills."

With that, he pointed at the red head who was clearly complaining to her friends instead of studying.

The brunette continued to explain something, but Robin had stopped listening as he continued to stare at the girl in the cheerleading outfit. He felt instant attraction to her and blurted out, "is she going out with Killian?"

The other boy tilted his head and brought his hand forward to turn Robin's head towards him, "no," the blond's face split into a smile until Will added, "she's not allowed to date until her sister does."

Robin's shoulders slumped and he asked, "how could you possibly know that?"

"She has been complaining about it since getting to school, I'm pretty sure that everyone knows about it by now," he laughed in reply, "you've got no chance."

"Surely all we need to do is find her sister a date."

"We?" Will asked with a furrowed brow.

Robin shrugged and said, "I know I haven't met many people, but I figured we could be friends, right?"

The brunette bit his lip and tried not to smile, instead he cleared his throat and nodded, there was no reason that the new kid had to see that this was a big deal to him.

"Sure…but there is one major issue here," Robin looked at him expectantly and he said, "her sister is kind of a…shrew."

"You have got to be kidding me," Robin laughed but received a deadly serious look in response.

"Everyone in the school is afraid of her."

"So we need to find her a dude who can handle fear?" he replied as if it was the most simple solution in the world.

"Men aren't really Regina's type," Will said evenly.

"Then we need to find her a badass girl," the blond adjusted, "how difficult can that be?"

Will just shook his head and said, "even if there were options, I doubt that any of them would be willing to go out with Regina."

Robin quickly looked around his eyes fell on two girls sitting on a wall laughing at some video on one of their phones.

He pointed at the blonde one and said, "what about her?"

Will quickly slapped his hand down to the table and whispered, "do you want to be murdered?"

"What?" Robin laughed somewhat nervously.

"That is Emma Swan," he replied still in a whisper as she could hear them from across the courtyard.

"Meaning?"

"She is probably the only person scarier than Regina, she's one year away from leaving the foster system and rumour has it that she enjoys violence way more than can be considered healthy."

Robin nodded slightly and said, "any rumours on her sexuality?"

"I think she's bi, but she's hardly the type to take someone on a date, if you know what I mean," Will replied.

The blond just shook his head and shot another glance at the girl in the red leather jacket, she looked perfectly normal, if not slightly rough around the edges.

"I'm sure your overreacting about all of this," he laughed.

"Trust me, I'm not. Besides, what makes you think that Zelena would even go out with you?" the other boy retorted.

Robin swallowed hard just as the bell rang out and Zelena stood from her seat, seemingly going in a different direction to her friends.

"I'll go and talk to her," he said with fake confidence and before Will could say no, he already approaching her.

Pulling out his timetable, he swallowed hard again and tapped her on her shoulder, "excuse me."

Zelena turned around and smiled at him, "hi," she said instantly.

Robin just about managed to stop himself from letting out a breath and continued with his plan, "I'm kind of new and I was hoping that you would be able to tell me how to get to English."

The red head furrowed her brow as she looked down at his timetable and replied, "you're in my class so you can just follow me, but aren't you supposed to have a buddy?"

"Errr…he had to go to the nurse because he had a headache," the blond lied.

Zelena nodded and motioned for him to follow her which he promptly began to do with a dopey smile on his face.

Another thought popped into his mind and he said, "Robin, by the way."

"Zelena," she replied with a smile.

Robin nodded, trying to pretend that he didn't already know that and said, "you know…I really need help catching up with everything…"

The red head thought this through for a moment and then nodded. Her father said that she wasn't allowed to date, but she could still bother him by studying with a boy, even if it wasn't the boy that she actually wanted to date.

"I could use some extra credit," she replied casually and Robin resisted the urge to raise his arms in triumph.

Instead, he looked over at Will and shot him a thumbs up which earned him an eye roll.

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know if you're interested in more :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Emma will probably be more like a toned version of Dark Swan for a few chapters, but she'll soften up ;) haha**

 **Also, I have no bi-phobic intentions, so sorry for any offence, and it shouldn't last that long...**

Chapter two

"So what do you need help with?" Zelena asked as she took her seat in the library.

Robin looked up from his French text book and his eyes briefly widened as he realised that he hadn't thought this through. Honestly, he had a perfect GPA, he couldn't think of one thing that he needed help with.

"Robin?" the red-head prompted, clicking her fingers in front of his very shocked face.

Swallowing hard, he looked down at the text book, "F-French…I did Spanish at my last school," he lied.

Zelena nodded and reached out for the book which he quickly handed it to her.

Running her eyes over a few lines she said, "I think I can help…do you know anything?"

The blond shook his head slowly, trying to ignore all of the rules of the language popping into his head.

"Maybe you could ask to be switched to Spanish then? It seems unfair," she frowned.

"I'm…naturally curious, it would be nice to learn another language, plus you get your extra credit…"

The cheerleader shrugged her shoulders and said, "okay, I'll have to make sure that I'll get the extra credit, so maybe we should go to the office now?"

She was about to stand, but Robin quickly held up his hand and said, "hang on, there was something else…"

"Need help with another subject?" she asked with a furrowed brow.

"Er…no…I just heard about the rumour about your dad's rule…it's so unfair."

Zelena blinked a couple times, clearly considering the fact that even the new boy knew, and then she decided that it wasn't particularly a secret and she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to complain about what she saw as injustice.

"There is no way that anyone would ever go out with Regina, I'm going to die alone before she finds a girlfriend," she whined.

"Why won't she go out with anyone?" he asked, desperately trying to keep a casual expression, though, the red head didn't seem to notice the cracks in his façade.

"Her first girlfriend cheated on her with some guy and she refuses to go out with anyone who isn't one hundred percent sure that they're gay. Which severely limits her dating pool to exactly zero people," she sighed, "that means that I have to wait until she goes to NYU."

Robin looked down at the table for a moment and considered her words, "does one hundred percent gay exclude bi?"

Zelena furrowed her brow, shooting him a questioning glance, "I think so, why? What are you thinking?"

"Emma Swan," he replied simply, "someone could convince her to ask Regina out, all she would have to do is not mention that she plays for both teams."

For a second, the thought of how horrible that would be, she was pretty sure that the school's badass wouldn't be easy to convince, plus there was the fact that she would be getting someone to lie to her sister. But at the same moment, the thought of Killian asking her out came forward and she made up her mind.

"Why would you want to help with this?" she decided to ask cautiously, even though she had a feeling that was already going to agree to his plan.

"I…I just thought that it's completely unfair and…you offered to help me catch up so I figured that I owe you," he lied unconvincingly, though the cheerleader didn't seem to notice.

"So how do you suggest that we get this to work?" Zelena after a second of considering his answer.

"Why don't you leave that to me," Robin smiled, almost goofily, "do you want to go and make sure that you get your extra credit now?"

Zelena nodded, a small smile blooming across her face, and she motioned for him to follow her.

* * *

"This is a terrible idea," Will whispered, desperately trying to grab Robin's jacket to stop him, though it was completely in vain as the boy continued to walk towards his target.

"Will you calm down? It's all going to work out," Robin sighed exasperatedly.

"The only two outcomes that I see here are either: you get Zelena a date with Killian or we get murdered by Emma Swan. Do you see how we win in this situation?"

"Zelena just has to realise that Killian isn't the guy for her," the blond reasoned, "if she keeps 'tutoring' me then she'll realise that I'm the one she wants to go out…hopefully."

"So you want me to put my life in danger for 'hopefully'?" Will asked dramatically.

Robin just rolled his eyes and turned away from him, finally making it to the blonde who was sitting on a low wall, sketching something with headphones drowning out the sound of the rest of the lunch goers.

"Excuse me," Robin said, his voice cracking as he lightly tapped the leather clad shoulder.

Emma's hand suddenly jerked to the side and she narrowed her eyes at the line going through the image she had spent two hours drawing.

Looking over the edge of the book, she shot the boy a venomous look, before she threw the book to the side and slid the headphones off.

"What?" she asked harshly.

Robin's eyes fell to the beautifully drawn tree that was now marred with a thick black line and he swallowed hard, "err...you're really talented…"

Emma's eyes only further narrowed and she replied, "how can you tell?"

Taking a deep breath, he said, "it would have been amazing without, the errr…"

"You know, I was told that I'm not allowed to draw severed limbs for the art competition, but that doesn't mean that I can't do it in my spare time. Of course, I would need some kind of inspiration," she growled, standing as she did so, and Robin instantly noticed that she was at least a couple inches taller than him.

His mouth fell open, under her gaze, he felt as if he had lost the ability to form words and as fear began to rumble in the pit of his stomach, he completely forgot why he had come to talk to the blonde.

"Is there a reason that I have to be subjected to two morons? I was having a perfectly nice lunch…"

Robin and Will each looked over to where she was sitting alone, but neither of them were brave enough to bring up that little fact.

"I need to ask a favour…" Robin choked out after Will nudged his arm.

Emma crossed arms and raised her eyebrows, a mocking smile on her face as she replied, "oh, you need a favour? Of course, just give me a second to drop everything."

Letting out another steeling breath, Robin said, "do you know who Zelena and Regina are?"

"Of course I know who the mayor's kids are, but I still don't see a point in this."

"Well…Zelena isn't allowed to date until Regina does, so we're trying to find someone to go out with Regina who wouldn't be completely terrified of her…and we figured that you're pretty fearless…"

The blonde leaned back against the wall and said, "no."

Exchanging a quick look with Will, Robin turned back to her and said, "what do you mean no?"

"Like the meaning of the word or you want to know why I said it?" she asked condescendingly.

The boy just about stopped himself from rolling his eyes and said, "why you said it."

"Well, Regina is certainly hot, but it seems like it would be a lot of effort. I just don't see what I would be getting out of it," she replied, making to pick up her headphones.

Robin quickly grabbed her arm to stop her from putting them on, but quickly snapped his hand away when she shot a look down at his hand that said he would lose it in a moment.

"Please…I really need your help," he begged.

"You think that Zelena Mills would go out with you?" Emma laughed, "no offence, but you're not really her type."

"That isn't for you to worry about," Robin sighed, "the important thing is that you are Regina's type, so long as you never mention the whole bi thing."

Emma held her hand over her heart and said, "you want me to start a relationship based on lies?"

Will snorted slightly and Robin shot him narrowed eyes, before he said, "you just have to go out with her two, maybe three times. Just long enough for her dad to realise that I would be perfect for Zelena."

"Interesting plan," the blonde replied, causing the boy to smile in hope, before she added, "but my answer is still no."

"Please? I'll do anything."

"Two hundred bucks," she smirked.

Robin's eyes widened and he looked to Will who shook his head, "I don't have that much."

"It just went up to two fifty," the blonde laughed.

Robin's shoulders slumped and he sighed deeply.

Emma inspected him for a moment, before she jumped back on the wall and placed her headphones back on.

The blond boy cringed when she violently ripped out the drawing he had ruined and threw to the ground.

Will pulled him away, and once they were a safe distance, he said, "well that was a bust."

Robin shook his head and said, "there must be someone else we can ask."

"If there was, don't you think I would have suggested it before we went and talked to her?!" Will shot back and Robin deflated and fell against the wall.

They stood in silence for a moment, before Will noticed a certain footballer walking alone as he texted, obviously trying to find out where his friends were. After all, it wasn't that hard to believe that Killian Jones would be held back after class.

"How about if we get someone to foot the bill?"

Robin furrowed his brow and asked, "why would anyone do that for us?"

"Well, the Jones are the richest family in town, Killian's dad has this huge international company and he just loves showing people just how much money he has to throw around."

"But if he pays for it, then he'll definitely be expecting a date with Zelena," Robin argued with an exasperated sigh.

Will tilted his head and said, "it really doesn't change your original plan that much."

Robin looked over at Killian and finally just shook his head and sighed, beginning to walk towards him, closely followed by his friend.

"Hey," he called, just about catching up with the boy.

Killian put his phone and looked Robin up and down, obviously trying to place just who he was, he then turned to Will, vaguely recognising him from his homeroom, he asked, "what?"

Robin took a deep breath, he was seriously beginning to wonder whether every person in this school was rude.

"I heard that you want to go out with Zelena," he said, deciding that pretence wouldn't be very helpful.

The other boy raised his eyebrow and said, "and?"

"Well…me and her are kind of…friends…and I wanted to help her go out with…you," he sighed.

Killian tilted his head, clearly interested, he nodded for the blond to continue.

"Emma Swan said that she would ask Regina out, but she said that it would cost two hundred and fifty dollars and I don't have that kind of money. We can't ask Zelena because we don't want Regina getting suspicious. Since it would be you getting to go out with her," he said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice, "you would be willing to fund the plan…"

Killian took a moment to think about this, before he decided that his father would hardly question $250 going missing. He figured that it couldn't hurt, especially if he got to go out with one of the hottest girls in school.

"Fine," he said.

Robin's eyes widened and he looked to Will to make sure that he had heard the other boy right. Will nodded in confirmation and blond turned back to look at the black haired boy, who was holding out a wad of bills.

"I better get my date from this and I expect updates," he said, before taking off without a look back.

Robin blinked a few times, inspecting the money, before his shoulders slumped, "we have to go and talk to Emma again, don't we?"

Will nodded with a similar resigned expression and they began to make their way across the courtyard.

* * *

-The next day-

Regina yawned and tried to absorb the words on the page.

She was well aware that she was probably in the minority of students, considering that she was one of the only ones who actually used the library, with Belle probably the only person who probably spent more time here than she did.

Most people spent their free period in the quad, but even when Mal's timetable lined up with hers, they still tended to stay in the safety of the library. It was one of the few places that she didn't have to deal with morons, it wasn't like she got much respite at home with her sister constantly begging her to look for a girlfriend.

The sound of someone falling into the seat opposite her interrupted her reading and she scowled over the top of the book at the smirking blonde.

Seeing who it was, her scowl deepened and she said, "you know that almost every other table is empty."

"Something about them just wasn't as attractive as this one," Emma smirked.

Regina rolled her eyes and looked back at the page, muttering, "whatever."

The blonde reached across the table and pulled the book down until the brunette finally looked back what her, "what do you want?"

"What's with the hostility Mills?"

"Suffice it to say that you made a terrible day significantly worse," Regina shot back.

Emma furrowed her brow in confusion and the brunette allowed herself to notice just how adorable it was, before she shook her head and said, "you splashed me with your skateboard."

"Oh…" Emma said, "I'm sorry, I guess…"

"Is there a reason that you are interrupting a perfectly enjoyable book?"

Bring the book towards her, Emma turned it over and laughed, "you find Bourdieu enjoyable? How old are you?"

Regina snatched the book back and rolled her eyes, "clearly, I must be mentally older than you."

"You're making this difficult," the blonde sighed, though she couldn't help feeling a certain exhilaration while she talked to the brunette.

"Making what difficult?"

"I was hoping that you would go out with me on Friday," Emma said with a charming smirk.

"And why would I do that?" Regina asked with a quirked eyebrow.

The blonde looked confused for a moment, before she just shrugged and stood from her chair, "I'll take that as a no."

With that, she walked away, with Regina's eyes following her suspiciously. After a second, she just shook her head and decided that Emma was probably just bored and brought the book back towards her.

Emma walked towards to door, only for someone to grab her by the arm and pull her behind one of the shelves of books, "what the hell, Swan?" Killian asked.

"I didn't know I was being monitored," she growled while she slapped his hand away.

"You were supposed to get her to go out with you!" he said.

"Technically the 250 was for asking her out, no one said anything about her saying yes," Emma smirked.

Killian put his head in one of his hands and reached into his pocket, placing another hundred in her hand, "you have to get her to say yes."

Emma looked down at the bill and shook her head, "I don't know…this seems very time consuming…"

Rolling his eyes, he placed another two hundred dollar bills on her hand and looked at her expectantly.

"I suppose this will do, but you should probably pay expenses too."

"Meaning?" he sighed.

"Meaning that I need to find something that will make her want to go out with me," the blonde replied, "you should probably look into that as well."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he nodded, "fine, ask that Robin guy to find something out about her and I'll pay for whatever it is."

"Nice doing business with you Jones," she laughed, before stuffing the money in her pocket and leaving the library.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed.**

 **I need to thank my lovely beta QueenApples for her usual help.**

 **And please check me out of Facebook if you haven't already (search withgirl-the dp is the same as my profile on here)**

 **Reviews are a great motivation ;) lol**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Robin clutched the French text book closer to his chest and after a small hesitation, he knocked on the door of the huge white mansion.

Bouncing on his heels, he prepared to be met with the beautiful red head that he had spent the last two days thinking about non-stop, but when the door was yanked open, he saw a very peeved brunette.

"Who are you?" Henry asked.

Robin looked over the teenage boy and tilted his head in confusion as he considered why he was possibly afraid of the boy.

"Zelena is supposed to be tutoring me…"

Henry Jr. narrowed his eyes and said, "she said that you were coming over in an hour."

"I need to talk to her about something," he replied uncertainly, "what's with the third degree?"

"Guys who show up this early usually want more than just studying and I don't like anyone who thinks of my sister like that."

Robin swallowed hard and nodded, "is she here?"

"She's at cheerleading practice."

"I'll just wait out here then," Robin mumbled and was about to walk down the drive, until he heard someone walking out from behind Henry.

"What are you doing?" Regina laughed as she inspected her little brother's protective stance.

"He asked for Zelena and she's not here," the younger brunette said rather defensively.

Regina raised her eyebrow at him and then looked up at Robin who seemed to be terrified by the fourteen-year-old.

"I'm going to get her, she'll be here in like ten minutes, Henry."

The boy looked like he was about to protest, before he realized that he couldn't think of any logical reason why he couldn't let the blond in to just wait for Zelena, other than the fact that he didn't like his face.

Rolling his eyes, he just turned away from the door and walked back into the house.

Robin blinked a few times before he looked back to Regina, "he's…protective."

The brunette nodded her agreement, Henry had been that way since he had seen what her break up with Daniella had done to her. Every time she so much as mentioned a girl, she would get constantly questioned until she told him that she wasn't attracted to whoever she was. Granted, Zelena had yet to go out with anyone seriously, but both Henry and their father were ever vigilant.

"He's the only boy, he thinks it's his job," Regina chuckled as she began walking towards her car, "you can wait in the foyer if you want."

The blond nodded and turned towards the front door that Henry had left open and walked over the threshold just as he heard a car door slam shut.

Tentatively, he closed the door behind himself and awkwardly looked around as he began his wait.

It wasn't long, however, before he started considering what had just happened.

Based on the descriptions of Regina Mills he had heard, he was sure that she would at least show some signs of bitchiness, but the girl he had just met seemed perfectly nice. Then again, he had met her in front of her little brother so maybe it had just been an act?

Robin thought on that possibility for a second before he shook his head to himself, the act was probably the way she was at school, which just made him wonder why she felt the need to keep up the façade.

"So you came in anyway?" someone asked from behind him.

Robin jumped and looked at the lanky boy, who he was pretty sure was taller than him, and nodded.

"Regina let me in…"

Henry rolled his eyes and replied, "I cracked that code, what I don't get is why you would ask Zelena to tutor you. I mean, I love her, but she doesn't exactly have a perfect GPA."

"I asked her because…"

"Because you found her pretty and you wanted to spend more time with her?" the brunette asked with narrowed eyes.

"Does any of this matter? I mean, it's not like I could go out with her even if I wanted to…which I don't."

Henry looked at him in disbelief, noting the slight spike in his voice, he said, "why does it sound like you have some kind of plan?"

"Plan?" the blond laughed very unconvincingly, "why would I have a plan?"

The brunette narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger at the older boy, "if you hurt my sister…"

"I'm not going to hurt Regina," Robin shot back.

"I was talking about Zelena," Henry said slowly, "what are you planning to do to Regina?"

Robin opened his mouth and the only sound that came out was a very unmanly squeak and he just shook his head.

Henry narrowed his eyes further and was about to make a further threat when the front door opened to reveal a certain brunette and red head as they walked in silence. The pair hadn't talked much other than Zelena begging her sister to pretend to be in a relationship and the oppressive silence was seriously beginning to make family dinners awkward.

Zelena looked between the terrified Robin and her brother and scowled even deeper, "what are you doing to him?"

"Just asking him a few questions," Henry replied without looking away from his fellow teen.

Rolling her eyes, the cheerleader came forward and grabbed the blond boy's hand, as she mumbled, "why does my whole family have to be such freaks?"

Blush crept up Robin's neck, which caused Henry and Regina to exchange a look as they both noticed that their sister seemed to be completely oblivious to his reaction.

Regina just shook her head and made her way into the living room as Zelena dragged Robin upstairs and Henry rolled his eyes and followed her.

"I don't trust him."

The older brunette looked at him in disbelief, before she just fell onto the couch and made a grab for the remote.

Henry snatched it up before she came close and she sighed dramatically, "even if he does like her, Zelena has her heart set on Killian."

"But he has something planned and he looks really guilty about it," Henry insisted.

"I'm sure he just has some moronic idea to get her to go out with him, but you and I know that she is physically incapable of going against whatever dad says, so this is all a moot point."

"Do you even care about her?" he asked accusatorily.

"Why do you think I don't want her to go out with Killian?" Regina sighed.

Henry furrowed his brow and tilted his head and asked, "what do you have against him anyway?"

"Are you telling me that you would be all for their relationship?"

"I get why I don't want her to go out with…you know, anyone, but why do you care about her going out with Killian but not Robin?"

Regina made another grab for the remote and then rolled her eyes when it was held out of her reach again, "I don't like Killian and Robin seems perfectly nice. Why does any of this matter?"

"Well, let's assume that you turn out to be capable of a connection with another person…"

"Oh, ha ha, Henry, you don't have to worry about her going out with anyone anytime soon. Now will you unclench and let me watch TV?"

Henry bit his lip and sighed while falling onto the couch next to his sister and began flicking through channels until he landed on 'Family Guy'.

"What's the pin?" he asked.

Regina raised her eyebrow and snatched the remote off him, "I'll tell you when you're older and when you put on something I actually want to watch."

Henry rolled his eyes and threw the remote on her lap, muttering "you suck" as he went off in search of something entertaining.

* * *

-Meanwhile upstairs-

"I'm so sorry about my brother," Zelena sighed as she opened her bedroom door, "he feels the need to protect me, God knows why."

Robin smiled weakly and went to plop himself down on the desk chair while she went over to the bed, "I think it's cute how much they care about you…" turning bright red he held up his hands to think of something better, but she didn't seem to have heard as she began pulling stuff out of her bag.

Opening up a pad of paper, she looked over to him and furrowed her brow at his expression and shot him a questioning look.

He allowed his hands to drop into his lap and managed to stop himself from sighing as he attempted to move the conversation along, "so Emma asked for more information about Regina…"

"You actually got Emma Swan to agree to this?" the red head asked in shock.

Robin swallowed hard and considered telling her just how he had gotten the blonde to agree to his plan. He figured that even if Zelena was convinced that she hated her sister, she would still be more than insulted if she found out that he had gotten someone to pay a girl to ask her out. Even he knew just how bad the situation would be, especially if Regina ever found out, but the plan had just snow-balled before he had gotten the sense to stop it, so he decided that it was too late to go back on it now.

"She…said that she finds Regina interesting…" he lied.

Zelena thought about this for a second, she was sure that Emma Swan would never have had the chance to spend much time in the presence of her sister, but she seemed to decide that his explanation was good enough.

"Okay…so what kind of things does she need to know?"

"Err…like hobbies, she needs to be able to set up the perfect date so that Regina will agree to go with her," he replied.

Grabbing the pad of paper, she began scribbling down everything she knew about Regina and then she frowned at the exceptionally short list.

Jumping off the bed, she handed it to Robin, "this is all I can think of."

"Horseback riding, is that all?"

The red head bit her lip and realized that Regina hadn't been to the stables since Daniella left and sighed, "you should probably cross it off."

"You must know more about your sister," he laughed.

"I used to," she frowned, "but I guess we grew apart. Maybe you should ask Henry?"

The blond's eyes widened and he shook his head, "I don't think he would be that willing to tell me anything...what music does she like?"

Zelena winced and thought for a second before she said, "classical music?"

"Was that supposed to be a question?" he laughed.

Biting her lip in concentration, she suddenly had a burst of inspiration as she ran out of the room without explanation.

Robin was about to call after her to ask where she was going, but she came back a moment later holding an iPod.

She began tapping away and Robin furrowed his brow, "you know her password?"

"She uses Rocinante's birthday for everything," she replied with a wave of her hand.

"Rocinante?"

"He was her horse before she stopped going to the stables, I think Henry looks after him now," she frowned.

Robin nodded, he began to wonder if Regina's apparent change in personality had something to do with the stables. It seemed as if she and Zelena began to grow apart after whatever it was and he could see that it was beginning to bother the red head that she didn't know her sister anymore.

Shaking her head, Zelena began to scroll through a couple playlists and said, "Paramore, Artic Monkeys, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Bad Suns…is any of this helpful?"

Robin looked up from his phone that he had been frantically using to Google, and nodded, "would your dad let Regina go to New York for a concert?"

Zelena took a second to consider this and nodded, "well she is going to NYU soon, so dad does want her to get used to New York before she starts college. What are you thinking?"

"Paramore are playing next month, maybe Emma could ask her to that?"

The red head nodded, before she seemed to realise the problem, "isn't it sold out?"

"Errmmm…I'm pretty sure that I know someone who could get tickets," Robin assured.

"It would still be expensive right?"

"It's not a problem, Zelena," he said with a small grin.

She studied him for a second, trying to figure out what it was he wasn't telling her, but she wanted this date embargo to be over soon, so she just nodded. "thanks, maybe we should actually study now?"

* * *

Regina blew out a breath and began to make her way to the library.

This day seemed to be unnecessarily dragging and she had yet to actually learn something that she didn't already know. Despite her best efforts, her mother refused to allow her to home school herself, even though she had read far ahead in order to prove that she was perfectly capable of learning outside of this incessant place.

She was about to walk past one table in particular, but she narrowed her eyes over the mess of blonde hair visible over the top of a copy of 'Jane Eyre'.

Snatching the novel away, she narrowed her eyes at the amused look that Emma was wearing, "why are you following me?"

"I was reading, it was getting good and then you ruined it…"

"Jane goes back to Rochester after the fire at Thornfield," Regina said in a monotone tone.

"Spoilers!" Emma shouted in mock offence.

"The book is one hundred and sixty-eight years old!"

"Do you have something against the classics, Regina?" Emma laughed.

Regina sighed and shook her head, "what do you want, Swan?"

"Well you broke my poor little heart when you said no to me," the blonde pouted.

"Not used to rejection?" Regina sneered.

A dark look passed over the normally indifferent girl's face and Regina suddenly felt bad when she remembered that she was a foster child. It occurred to her that she had probably suffered more rejection in her eighteen years than most did in their lives.

With a sigh, she fell into the chair opposite her and nodded for her to continue, she figured that she at least owed her a couple minutes after that comment.

Emma moved past it and reached into her jacket to pull out the tickets Killian had basically thrown at her, "I got you something."

Regina quirked an eyebrow, her interest officially piqued, she took them and her eyes briefly widened as she re-read them three times.

"How could you possibly get tickets to Paramore?"

"I know a guy," she chuckled, "so do you want to go?"

Regina tilted her head and said, "of course, Mal will love this."

Emma's mouth fell open and the after a moment, she said, "I meant with me."

"Oh, then no," she replied, sliding the tickets back across the table.

The blonde sighed deeply and slid them back, "go with your friend."

With that, she stood from her seat and inspected Regina's look of surprise, "something wrong, princess?"

She looked at the tickets again and shook her head, "I guess not…aren't you going to finish your book?"

Emma looked at the novel she had been pretending to read, "I already read it like five times."

Regina's eyebrows shot up and the blonde smirked at how adorably shocked she looked.

"Anyway, I think I have class right now," she laughed as she walked off.

The brunette laughed lightly and then her eyes widened as she realised she had actually laughed at something Emma Swan had said.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know what you thought XD**

 **Reviews are a great motivator ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

"What the hell, Swan?!" Killian shouted.

Emma rolled her eyes and turned away from her locker to look at the livid footballer, and smiled as sweetly as possible, "something wrong, Jones?"

Killian clenched his jaw and replied, "do you have any idea how much I spent on those tickets?"

"I'm trying to build a relationship…"

The black haired boy grabbed both of her shoulders and pushed her against the locker, "you don't have time to 'build a relationship'," he growled.

Emma's eyes drifted casually to the hands on her shoulder and quickly ran through all of the self-defence that she'd learnt over her life.

She quickly discarded the most violent options, figuring that she didn't want to go through the ordeal of being expelled.

Looking around the hallway, she noticed no teachers and a couple of lingering gazes on what was happening, but other than that, she believed that she would be pretty safe in what she actually wanted to do in that moment.

Bringing her knee up, it made contact with his groin and he let out a squeal as he fell back and covered the affected area with both of his hands. When he looked up at the blonde, he noticed that she was casually brushing her the shoulders of her jacket.

"You didn't give me a deadline, Jones, and as you can see, I don't appreciate the pressure."

Swallowing hard, he ignored the couple snickers that he could hear from behind him, and brought one of his hands into his pocket and pulled out more green bills.

"Well now you do have a deadline," he said with a slight crack in his voice as he placed another couple hundred in her hand.

Emma raised her eyebrow and said, "fine, but I need more to go on."

Killian sighed deeply and just before he began hobbling away, he said, "I'll let Locksley know."

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Robin said as he stood awkwardly in the middle of the bedroom.

Zelena chuckled and continued searching the drawers, "for Regina to agree to go out with Emma Swan, we're going to need to find something for her."

"But…" the blond trailed off.

"We're trying to help her, so technically, she should get over the invasion of privacy."

"Technically we're trying to help you," he shot back.

Since he had actually met the so-called 'terrifying Regina Mills' he had been feeling nothing but guilt. She seemed like a perfectly nice girl who just didn't thrive in high school. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she and Emma actually had a long term relationship and she found out what had made the blonde so interested in her in the first place.

Zelena was about to make a retort, before the door opened and they both jumped back slightly.

"Helping you how?" Henry asked with narrowed eyes.

The red-head's mouth opened in shock as she took in the sight of her little brother, before she decided to go with her go to, "get out of here you little freak!"

Henry crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, "you don't exactly have the moral high ground here, Zelena."

Letting out a huff, she looked over at Robin for a plausible explanation as to why she was searching through her sister's things, but Storybrooke's newest student just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

Zelena considered her options for a moment, before she decided to go with a half lie, "we're trying to get Regina a girlfriend."

"So you can go out with Killian?" the brunette asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well…I won't say that isn't a motivator, but have you noticed how different she's been since Daniella left? Maybe if she found someone new, she could re-join the human race."

Henry just shook his head and walked over to stand next to his sister, slamming the drawer shut, he replied, "she's different because she was completely and utterly heart broken. Daniella refused to even acknowledge that she was her girlfriend, she made her feel like her dirty little secret and then she cheated on her and left. If you would pay one second of attention to Regina, then you would know that she's not ready to date someone new."

"Daniella left six months ago," Zelena shot back with an exasperated sigh.

"You can't put a clock on heart break and you shouldn't force your sister into a relationship before she's ready just because you want to date a footballer!"

Zelena was about to shout something back, but she was interrupted by someone clearing their throat and tentatively raising their hand.

Each Mills turned to fix Robin with a stare and his hand shot back to his side and he clamped his mouth shut.

"What?!" Henry said.

"Err…How do you know that she's not ready to go out with someone else? I mean…I get that a first heart break is rough, but if it's been six months, then maybe it would be healthy for her to move on…"

The brunette was about to argue that he was being ridiculous and that he knew nothing about his sister, before he blinked a couple of times and realised that he may actually have been right.

Regina spent far too much time at home since it all happened and she had lost many friends when she had finally publically come out. Of course, she still had Mal and didn't really care about the people who had abandoned her in her time of need, at least anymore, but she far from the happy girl that everyone knew before her first kiss with Daniella.

"Does this Emma Swan actually like her? Or did you do something to make her want to go out with her?"

Before Robin could say a word, Zelena cut in and said, "she agreed to ask her out, so she must like her, right?"

She directed the question at the blond boy who suddenly felt like he had forgotten how to talk. He considered that this wouldn't be the absolute worst time to tell Zelena the truth, she would probably tell him to get out of her house and she would be pissed, but at least he could stop this snow balling. But when he opened his mouth, nothing came out and he just nodded.

"Okay then, I guess I'll help," Henry grumbled.

Zelena smiled broadly and was about reach around to open the drawer, only to have her hand slapped away, "hey!" she pouted.

"Unlike you, I don't need to look through my sister's stuff to know what she likes, now we should really get out her room. She could be back from the library any minute."

Zelena rolled eyes and led the way to her own room, and as soon as she sat herself on the bed, she looked at her little brother expectantly.

"Who is Emma Swan?" he finally asked.

Robin dug into his pocket and quickly found her Facebook profile, and holding it in front of Henry, he watched as the boy's eyebrows shot up.

"She doesn't look like Regina's type," he sighed.

Zelena's shoulders slumped, before she narrowed her eyes at her brother and asked, "are you just saying that because you don't like her?"

Henry rolled his eyes and mumbled, "that's only half of it," then he looked back up at the other teens and elaborated. "Regina wouldn't like the leather jackets, she should probably put her hair up in a ponytail and this is just a guess based on the picture, but she should probably act nicer."

Zelena nodded her understanding and looked over at Robin to see what he thought.

He bit his lip and wondered whether Killian would be willing to give her any more money, before he asked, "what about the actual date?"

"Something private, but not completely away from prying eyes. Regina needs to know that she doesn't want it to be a secret, but she also wouldn't want to flaunt it in front of everyone."

"Did Regina tell you all of this?" the red-head frowned.

The brunette tilted his head and inspected his older sister critically, "no of course she didn't, but I do listen to the things that she does tell me."

Zelena winced and asked, "she talks to you about feelings and stuff?"

"Well, all you ever want to talk about is boys and she's not exactly interested," Henry laughed, before he turned on his heels and allowed the older girl to absorb the implications.

* * *

"Hey," Emma said happily as she fell into step with Regina.

The brunette just about managed to stop herself from smiling, and instead said, "I have to get to class."

"So do I," the blonde laughed, "what the odds that I never knew that I actually had AP English?"

"How could you possibly not know?" she asked, finally turning to look at her fully.

She blinked a couple times as she took in the simple combination of jeans and a black jumper, her hair was pulled back and she was wearing a pair of glasses.

"I had an epiphany that I actually want to college, so I decided to actually look at my timetable."

Regina just nodded and stopped walking as she continued to look at the other girl, only one question came to mind and she was too late to stop herself from asking it, "you wear glasses?"

Returning with a half grin, Emma replied, "contacts made me look more badass."

The brunette smirked slightly as she thought that the glasses just made her look adorable, before her eyes widened and she turned to continue walking, though her supposed admirer continued walking with her.

"Did that cute little look mean that you like them?" she asked with a smile.

Regina didn't deny that she liked them, and she also failed in holding back the blush creeping up her face.

"So, if I promise to wear them, will you go out with me?"

Regina bit her lip and stopped walking again, completely forgetting that she was probably going to be late.

Every time she talked to Emma Swan, she always felt this kind of euphoria after, and she often found herself thinking about the blonde when she didn't mean to. But she told herself that she didn't want to go out with the clichéd bad girl. Even if she found her attractive and funny, she told herself that it wasn't enough for a real relationship. But this version of Emma looked far less broody, in fact, she looked more comfortable with herself.

"Why now?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow.

Regina took a deep breath and said, "am I supposed to believe that you coincidentally that you want to go out with me when my sister needs me to have a girlfriend?"

The blonde felt a sudden flash of guilt, she always hated being lied to, but she couldn't imagine that she would get her date if she admitted the truth, not that she would admit that she wanted to go out with Regina Mills.

"Complete coincidence," she replied with a wide smile.

The brunette tilted her head and raised her eyebrows in disbelief, but she received a half grin in return, and she completely forgot what she was asking.

"Yes."

"You'll go out with me?" Emma asked with a huge grin that Regina couldn't help mirroring.

"Yes, you can pick me up on Friday at eight."

Turning on her heels, she began walking towards her class, before she turned and looked at the blonde, "aren't you coming?"

"I'm like ninety percent sure that I got kicked out of this class, but I'm going to the office to try and get back in."

Regina's smile widened as she watched the supposed badass ran off to beg for catch up work.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed XD As always I need to thank my lovely beta, QueenApples :D**

 **Reviews are a great motivator :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

"What are you doing?" Lily asked as she yanked the headphones off Emma's head.

The blonde blinked a couple of times before she looked up at her foster sister and the pointed at the books strewn across her bed, "what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Studying, but why would you be doing that?" the brunette laughed as she fell onto the bed.

"Because I'm a student…"

"You've been a student for a while Em, did Archie finally get to you?"

Emma laughed and snatched the book that Lily was flipping through. Though she had known the brunette for less than a year, they had become fast friend, since they had each been fostered by the town's resident therapist. Lily was one of the few people who truly understood what it was to be an orphan, and Emma now considered her to be her best friend, even if she would never say it out loud. Despite all of this, she hadn't actually told her about anything to do with Regina, she figured that it was because she didn't want to be judged, but that was another thing that she would never admit.

"No, I just realised how shit my GPA was. I actually went to the office and got extensions on everything…"

"What happened to Emma Swan?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and brought her laptop towards her to press print, jumping off the bed, she walked over to printer and watched as the first assignment starting coming out.

"I just decided to grow up," she said unconvincingly as she grabbed a stapler.

Lily raised her eyebrow and said, "how can you possibly have enough credits for graduation? It's in like four months…"

Emma bit her lip and sighed, "there may be something that I failed to mention…"

The brunette looked at her expectantly and she rolled her eyes.

"I have an eidetic memory…"

"Like a photographic memory?" Lily asked with a small laugh.

"Actually, that's a common misnomer-"

"Oh my God!" the brunette almost shouted as she jumped off the bed, "you're a closeted nerd!"

Emma rolled her eyes and fell onto her bed, "maybe."

"But…"

"I had a perfect GPA until middle school, but it didn't seem to be helping with anything, so I got into art and started ignoring the other subjects…" she sighed.

"So you're telling me that you can just read a text book or something once and you'll remember every word?" Lily asked, clearly moving past the subject of their uncomfortable pasts, something that Emma was always grateful for.

Shrugging, she replied, "yeah…but I still have to study to understand it."

"And how long does that take?"

"A short enough time that they're letting me redo the whole of senior year in four months," the blonde blushed.

"You mean to tell me that I've been living with a fucking genius who just let me fail maths?"

"If it helps, I failed too."

"It doesn't help at all, you failed just be a rebel," the brunette chuckled.

"You failed because you didn't want to study," Emma shot back.

Lily frowned, before another question occurred to her, "so what brought the inner nerd out?"

Emma blushed and grabbed a book, trying to hide behind it, but the brunette quickly grabbed her arms and pulled them down, smirking wildly.

"You have a crush on someone, don't you?"

"I…"

Lily held up her hand to stop any denial and continued, "you found someone who made you want to be the best version of yourself, that is so adorable. Who is it?"

"It's not a crush, Lily, it's…"

Sighing deeply, Emma leaned under her bed and pulled out a shoe box, opening it, she showed the pile of hundred dollar bills.

Blinking a couple of times, she reached in and moved the top bills aside to see how many there were, "you have a crush on a shit ton of money?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and put the box back under her bed and sat back up, "you know the deal with Zelena Mills?"

Nodding she laughed, "she made sure every knew about the injustice."

"Killian Jones really wants to go out with her, so he paid me to get Regina to go out with me. If she says that I'm her girlfriend, then Zelena gets to date. Regina likes this version of me better."

"So she likes the real you?" Lily asked with a furrowed brow.

"It doesn't really matter, I just have to go out with her long enough for Killian to get his date and then she'll probably find out why I asked her out and it will be over."

"You could…try being honest…"

"Why? It's not like I actually care about it, I just have to take her for a stupid picnic on Friday and then maybe a couple more dates…" the blonde replied unconvincingly as she attempted to bring her badass 'Emma Swan' façade back up.

"Keep telling yourself that, Swan, but you do know that you could have just pretended to be doing all of this work…"

"I have a lot to do, Lily," the blonde mumbled, she threw her headphones back on.

"Denial doesn't help your case," Lily muttered, before she walked away, knowing that her friend had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Emma took a deep breath and looked at her watch.

She was eight minutes early, something that didn't usually bother her, at least no anymore. But right now, she was wondering whether Regina would think it was weird, but then again, wouldn't it be weird if she waited eight minutes and was exactly on time?

Taking another deep breath, she decided to just suck it up and placed a couple of knocks against the wooden structure, before she stepped back and started rocking on her heels nervously.

The door was yanked open and she was met with the sight of a smirking red-head, "I can't believe that you got her to say yes," she whispered as she motioned for the blonde to enter the mansion.

Emma considered whether Zelena knew exactly why she had agreed to do this, but she decided that there was no way she could be okay with someone being paid to go out with her sister, so she just remained silent and dutifully followed her into the foyer.

"I'll just go and tell her that you're here," she said brightly, before she all but ran up the stairs.

Emma bit her lip and began rocking on her heels again.

She knew that Regina's family was rich, but as she looked around just the foyer, she determined that they were richer than she could have imagined. She was about to give into temptation to go and look at one of the many photos that were proudly displayed, but she was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

Turning on her heels quickly, she looked up to see the mayor, her husband and a little brunette who she vaguely remembered seeing around town.

Putting her hands behind her back, she quickly offered them a charming smile, but she received a critical look from all of them.

"You must be Emma Swan," Cora said as she stalked towards her daughter's potential suitor.

Emma swallowed hard, she wasn't quite sure how the mayor had made that sound like a threat, but it made her want to go and hide, so whatever it was, she was very successful.

"Yes ma'am," she replied with a slight tremble in her voice.

"The principle has made many complaints about you," she continued.

The blonde stopped herself from closing her eyes in frustration, she hadn't considered that the principle and mayor would actually talk, but then again, she was pretty sure that Cora wasn't allowed to tell Regina some of the more intimate details of her life.

"I'm…trying to turn over a new leaf, I really need to get into college," the teen replied with a small nervous laugh.

Cora inspected just how nervous the blonde was and she couldn't help the small smile that formed on her face. As much as she would prefer if none of her children went out with a girl/boy like Emma Swan, she was beginning to suspect that there was more to the girl than the horror stories that the principle had ranted to her about.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and Emma shot a look over her shoulder.

She instantly smiled broadly when she saw Regina dressed casually in a hoodie and a pair of Converse, she quickly pushed her glasses back up her nose and the brunette smiled at how adorably dorky the action looked.

"What you doing, mom?" Regina sighed as she realised that Emma had probably been subjected to one of her mother's interrogations.

Cora smiled at her daughter and tried to look as innocent as possible, "I was simply greeting Miss Swan."

Regina shot another look at Emma and couldn't stop the smirk at how terrified she looked.

Walking down the rest of the steps, she lightly pushed the blonde towards the door since it didn't look as though she would be moving anytime soon.

Once the front door had clicked shut, Zelena jumped down the rest of the steps and ran up to her father, "does this mean that I can go out with Killian?"

Henry Sr. bit his lip, this was certainly not a turn of events that he had anticipated, taking a deep breath, he decided to go with one last ditch effort, "it depends how their date goes."

The red-head practically squealed and ran up to her room, already trying to decide what she should wear on her date.

* * *

"A picnic?" Regina asked with raised eyebrows as she followed Emma to the already set up blanket with a basket resting on top of it. She honestly had no idea what to expect from the blonde considering the sudden metamorphosis she seemed to have gone through, but a picnic from the supposed terrifying blonde hadn't even crossed her mind.

"It's quiet but still public," Emma shot back as she sat cross legged on the ground and began unpacking the sandwiches and snacks that Robin had told her to get. "You know that you can sit down?"

Regina blinked when she realised that she had just been standing staring at the other girl and she blushed slightly as she sat and took the offered sandwich.

"How could you possibly know what I would enjoy? I mean…you barely know me…"

Biting the inside of her cheek, Emma quieted the voice telling her to tell the truth, before she decided that another half lie could work, "I was really nervous, so I asked Zelena what to do."

The brunette furrowed her brow and asked, "Zelena knew what I would want?"

"I think she asked Henry," Emma replied absentmindedly while opening a can of soda for her date.

Regina sighed and took the offered drink, taking a small sip. She didn't know why the thought of Zelena actually knowing something about her made her feel a bit happy. Maybe it was because they used to be so close, but as soon as Zelena started noticing boys, it seemed like they had nothing in common. She guessed that it made sense, since most little sisters were able to get advice on boys, but Regina was hardly an expert. Plus, maintaining Daniella's secret had been very time consuming, it was rather lucky that she was able to re-build a healthy relationship with her brother after everything that happened, but she did miss Zelena sometimes.

"Did I say something wrong?" Emma asked with a little nervous laugh as she inspected the unreadable expression on the other girl's face.

Regina looked up at the blonde and couldn't help but smile at how worried she looked, putting her drink down, she shook her head and replied, "I was just thinking about my sister…"

"Oh, well I don't have a sister per say, but Lily is basically my sister, so I might be able to help," Emma said with a small grin.

"I just wish that we hadn't grown apart," she sighed.

"That's just a teenage thing, right?" the other girl frowned.

Regina shrugged and said, "she just seems to prefer to be angry at me more often than not. I don't think that I've had a serious conversation with her since…"

Emma looked at her expectantly when she trailed off and the brunette sighed deeply, "this may be too much information for a first date."

"I can handle whatever it is, plus we still have my crappy childhood to cover on other dates, so…"

The blonde cringed and Regina let out a small laugh, "what makes you so sure that I would agree to go out with you again?"

Emma shrugged and smirked slightly, "because you find me adorkable."

"Wearing glasses does not automatically make you a dork, Emma," Regina chuckled.

The other girl smirked, taking this as a personal challenge, she began running through everything in her mind that would prove her point. Granted, there was a lot of information in her eidetic mind, but she didn't really know enough about Regina to pick.

"What's your favourite Shakespeare sonnet?"

Regina raised her eyebrow and asked, "what would that prove?"

"If you tell me, I'll show you," Emma laughed.

"Okay…I guess Sonnet 18."

"Really?" the blonde laughed, Regina shrugged and Emma rolled her eyes. "Okay…

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day,

Thou art more lovely and more temperate,

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date."

"That proves nothing…" Regina began.

Emma held up her hand and continued:

"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;  
And every fair from fair sometime declines,  
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;  
But thy eternal summer shall not fade  
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;  
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,  
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;  
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,  
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

Regina sat there for a moment and absorbed the fact that her date was reciting Shakespeare, after a second, however, she said, "impressive party trick."

"It would have been more impressive if you hadn't picked the most well-known sonnet," the blonde shot back with a smirk.

"So you're saying that you sit at home memorising poems?" the brunette chuckled.

"Not exactly…it's more like I read every sonnet once and now I know them all."

Regina narrowed her eyes in disbelief, and said, "how about the first sonnet?"

"From fairest creatures we desire increase,

That thereby beauties Rose might never die…"

"Okay, I get it," Regina laughed before she could continue, "so what's your secret?"

"You expect me to reveal my secret on the first date, Mills?"

"I suppose that would be quite unfair of me," the brunette replied with a playful roll of her eyes, "what if I guess it?"

Emma shrugged with a smirk, "I guess that would be alright."

"You have an eidetic memory," Emma nodded in confirmation and Regina couldn't help but think how amazing that was. "That doesn't make you a dork, though."

"Sitting at home on a Saturday night reading Shakespeare's sonnets is pretty dorky," she countered with a smirk.

Regina smiled back and said, "okay you win, you're adorkable, though you hide it remarkably well."

"I just needed to find someone to make want to revert," she replied charmingly.

The brunette blushed and quickly grabbed sandwich to hide her cheeks accompanied by her date's laugh.

 **A/N I would love to hear what you guys thought XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**T/W for mild violence, just a slap and a punch...**

Chapter six

-Two weeks later-

Zelena ran into the kitchen with a triumphant smile.

Her father had been under the impression that Emma and Regina's relationship would fizzle out soon, so every time Zelena had asked for permission, he said 'one more date'.

"They're watching a movie in her room, to Regina that practically means they're married," she laughed.

The older Henry's eyes widened, while his son and wife just rolled their eyes.

"She's in her room?" he asked, about to move to make sure that his daughter's door was open.

Cora grabbed his arm and laughed, "I already checked, she knows that we have an open door policy."

"Which is how I know that they're not really watching the movie," the red-head chuckled, which earned a look from her mother that said, 'why would you do that?'

"What?!"

He was about to go towards the stairs, but Cora grabbed his arm, "Regina is eighteen, Henry," she laughed.

Letting out a huff, he fell onto a stool and looked over at his other daughter, "I suppose this means I

have no excuses…"

Zelena raised her arms excitedly, "I can go out with Killian?"

"Yes…"

The red head launched forward and hugged her father, before she turned on her heels and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

She didn't know why she chose to call Robin before Killian, but she didn't question it as she ran upstairs to her bedroom.

"Hello," the blond boy answered on the fourth ring.

"My dad finally agreed to let me go out with Killian, I just wanted to call and say thank you," she almost squealed.

There was silence on the other end of the line, before Robin asked, "you already have a date?"

"I just need to call Killian and set it up," she replied with a furrowed brow, she could have sworn that she'd heard a hint of pain in his voice. "If you like any of the cheerleaders, I could probably get you a date with one of them, since I basically owe all of this to you…"

There was silence again, before Robin swallowed hard and said, "it's alright…I'm not really looking for a relationship right now. Let me know if the date is worth it though."

"Worth what?" Zelena asked with a furrowed brow.

Robin bit his lip, mentally face palming, "I just meant if it was worth all of the effort you went through. My mom's calling me for dinner, so I should really go."

The red head was about to protest, but the other end went dead without Robin waiting for her reply.

Blinking a couple of times, she stared at the device, before she just shook her head and decided that she could deal with whatever that was after she went out with the most popular boy in school.

* * *

Emma continued to move her lips against Regina's as she allowed bliss to overcome her.

The last two weeks had been some of the best of her life.

She had never considered that spending so much time with one person could feel so good, mostly because she had learned that details only made people more difficult to let go when she had to move away. Now, however, she had a foster parent who promised her a place to live for as long as she needed it and she actually had a chance to get a scholarship assuming that she could catch up on all of her work.

Remembering why she had originally come here, she smiled against Regina's lips and then lightly pushed her away, "we're supposed to be studying."

The brunette smiled at the other girl and grabbed the remote to turn off the movie they had each been ignoring for the past half an hour.

"I fully intended to, but you're far too distracting," she chuckled as she pushed Emma's glasses back up her nose.

The blonde pouted and Regina leaned forward to kiss it off, which just made her grin wildly.

"If you're going to get into college, you really should be finishing these essays…"

"I could just redo senior year, Archie said that it's an option if I really want to go to college," Emma sighed as she fell back against the wall. Of course the therapist had noticed her recent change and had been more than happy about her renewed dedication. With all of his excitement, she couldn't stop the guilt at the reason it had started.

She had come close to telling Regina everything several times during their dates and 'study sessions' but as soon as the brunette smiled at her, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Even if they had only been doing this for two weeks, she didn't think she could handle losing it.

"But then…" Regina bit her lip to stop herself and quickly blushed and looked away from the blonde.

"What?" Emma laughed.

"I would be at NYU and you would be here…"

"You're really in this for the long haul, aren't you?" the blonde teased and received a light punch to her shoulder. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that Storybrooke University is the only place I have a chance of getting into at this point…"

Regina sighed and nodded, "I suppose it could be worse, it's not like I'm never coming back to Storybrooke…besides, it is far too early to be talking about this kind of thing."

Emma smiled weakly and thought back to everything Regina had told her about Daniella on their second date. With Regina, she found that she didn't mind going fast, because it meant that she would get to know as much as possible about her before their inevitable break-up. But then, she considered what would happen if Regina never found out about what she had done. They could visit each other during college, eventually move in together, get married and it was at this point that her thoughts would usually make her cringe.

Bringing her hand over Regina's, she intertwined their fingers and said, "I like talking about the future with you."

"Why? Most teenagers hate to think past high school," the brunette chuckled.

Emma nodded and considered how little she had actually told Regina about herself, she decided that on the off chance they stayed together, Regina deserved to be reciprocated for what she had opened up about.

"Well…until recently, the present has always been pretty crappy to me…" she sighed.

"We don't have to talk about this," Regina said quickly.

"I... want to tell you, if you want to hear it…"

Regina nodded and waited patiently for Emma to say what she wanted to.

A full ten seconds of silence past, before the blonde made eye contact with the brunette and said, "my parents…they left me and I have no idea why…"

Regina squeezed her hand tighter and offered a supportive smile.

Emma took a deep breath, feeling tears threatening to make their way down her face.

She hadn't even told Lily the whole story of her childhood, but then again, Lily hadn't told her anything. They seemed to have a mutual understanding that some things were better left unsaid, but Regina would never be able to understand what it felt like without at least some explanation.

"I spent a long time just focusing on school because I was convinced that they would come back eventually and I wanted them to be proud. Around about middle school, I realised how pointless it was, so I started doing art and ignoring my other subjects. I know it sounds stupid, but it was my way of getting back at them for leaving me. Now I'm four months away and may not graduate, so it was all pointless. They have no idea that I even rebelled and I still feel like I'm the only one suffering."

Regina took a moment to take all of this in, but she still kept her hand firmly around the other girl's.

After a second, she said, "and planning a future is something you can finally do just for yourself?"

Emma took a shaky breath and nodded, she wasn't sure why she was still surprised when the other girl was able to completely understand her.

"I just wish that I realised it earlier," she sighed.

Regina returned a weak smile, before she leaned forward and stole a peck and then leaned down to grab Emma's backpack.

Pulling out all of the assignment briefs, she took a moment to count them and then sighed deeply, "if you can do four assignments a day, you'll graduate."

"I've actually already done half of those."

Regina blinked a couple times before noticed the ticks on a couple of the ones in her lap and then she laughed, "my girlfriend is a genius."

Her eyes widened and she looked up at the stunned expression on the other girl's face and she quickly held up her hands, "I know that it's probably way too soon for that…"

Emma considered this for a moment, before she just smiled and leaned forward to steal another kiss, "it's not too soon for me."

Regina sighed in relief, before she frowned, "I guess this means that Zelena gets to go out with Killian."

"Is that a bad thing?" the blonde asked with a furrowed brow, though she felt guilt grip her stomach when she realised that was the reason all of this started.

The brunette just nodded and said, "she'll figure it out, I just hope it doesn't get too far…"

* * *

Zelena leaned her head on her hand and looked over at the clock again.

Killian was twenty minutes late and she began considering just going home. She had been warned by her sister many times that he was a jerk, but she had refused to listen.

Finally, the bell rang out and the footballer swaggered over to the booth he had spotted the red-head sitting in.

Plopping himself down opposite her, he smiled charmingly with his patented quirked eyebrow and then he said, "hey."

Zelena returned with a scowl and asked, "you do know that you're late, right?"

Killian looked over at the clock and then shrugged, "I'm…sorry…"

The cheerleader just shook her head and pulled her menu towards herself, "whatever," she muttered, figuring that she could at least give him more than one chance.

"You're just as high maintenance as your sister," he chuckled as he grabbed his own menu.

Zelena narrowed her eyes and snatched the menu off him, "what do you know about Regina?"

"We used to be friends, remember?" he shot back.

The red-head blinked a couple of times, Regina had a lot of friends before Daniella basically turned her into an introvert. It was still hard to believe that her sister had ever maintained a conversation, let alone a friendship, with Killian Jones.

"But…she hates you…"

Killian held his hand over his heart in faux hurt and Zelena instantly rolled her eyes at him.

She was beginning to realise that she'd put him up on some kind of pedestal and now there was no way that the boy himself could ever live up to the image she had of him in her mind. She only wished that she had actually listened to Regina on the many occasions that she had warned her against the footballer.

"How was I supposed to know that she was going out with Daniella?" he asked dismissively.

Zelena narrowed her eyes and scowled at her date, "what?"

The colour drained from his face and he asked, "she didn't tell you?"

"She didn't tell me what?" she asked slowly.

Killian swallowed hard and tried to think of any way out of this, but nothing came to mind and he found himself telling the truth before he could stop himself, "I kind of slept with Daniella."

Zelena blinked a couple of times before anger consumed her face, "it was you?" she whispered angrily, "it was your fault that my sister was heartbroken for months?"

"Maybe…but I made it up to her," Killian replied defensively.

"How could you have possibly made that up to her?"

"Well, if it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have Swan," he said with a smile, clearly completely oblivious that she didn't know of his involvement in Robin's plan.

"It was Robin who helped with that," Zelena sneered.

"Yes, but I funded it."

Zelena narrowed her eyes and said, "none of their dates have cost more than like twenty bucks."

"It cost a lot more than that to get Emma to even ask her out," he replied while rolling his eyes at the thought of the extortion he had suffered at the hands of the blonde.

The red head sat there for a moment to allow herself to absorb this and then she quickly shot out of her seat and slapped him across the face.

He brought his hand up to his stinging cheek and blinked a couple of times in shock, "what was that for?" he asked childishly.

"For being a jackass," she spat, before she stormed out of the diner in search of a certain Swan.

* * *

"You seem far too happy," Lily chuckled as she dropped onto Emma's bed.

The blonde looked up from her laptop and didn't even try to hide the huge smile as she turned it around and showed her the most recent thing on her Facebook timeline.

The brunette's eyebrows shot up and she smirked, "I thought that it didn't matter if the two of you got together."

Emma rolled her eyes and turned her laptop back to face her, "I thought that you of all people would know when I'm lying," she chuckled.

"Well, to be fair, this is the first time that you've ever had feelings for someone since we met, so I wasn't sure."

Emma frowned and looked at the floor next to where they both knew the box of money to be and Lily sighed, "you still haven't spent it?"

"It feels like dirty money," the blonde replied with slumping shoulders. "If I tell her now, she'll hate me, but what if she finds out a lot later? She told me what happened when her last girlfriend betrayed her…"

"Just give Killian the money back and tell her, Swan, this relationship actually seems like something that could work, so don't screw it up."

Emma took a deep breath and nodded, "you have a point…"

Lily looked at her expectantly and the blonde's eyebrows shot up, "now?"

"Yes, get over to that big ass mansion and stop moping about this stupid secret."

Emma nodded and after a second, she stood from her bed, beginning to look for some shoes, but she was interrupted by a very angry knock at the door.

Furrowing her brow, she looked over at Lily, who just shrugged and they each cautiously walked to the front door.

Yanking it open, her eyebrows shot up at the sight of a very pissed off red-head, "Zelen-"

The blonde was cut off by a raised hand and Zelena began her rant, "what the hell is wrong with you?"" Emma was about to cut in, but she was stopped again by a raised hand. "Killian paid you hundreds of dollars to go out with my sister! She really likes you, you know? When she finds out about this, she is never going to forgive you, or me…" shaking her head to get rid of the thought for now, she carried on, "were you ever planning to tell her? Or did Killian give you enough money to go out with her for a while?"

Emma opened her mouth to tell her the truth, all she had to do was tell her that she asked for the money before she knew Regina. She tried desperately to get the words out, but none of the phrasing that came to mind seemed good enough, so she ended up just making a strangled noise in her throat.

Zelena's face contorted and her fist connected with the blonde's nose before she could even stop herself.

Emma coiled over in pain, placing both hands over her face and she looked up to see Zelena about to make her final statement.

"You owe Regina an explanation."

She turned on her heels and began walking away, Lily was about to go after her but the blonde threw her hand out to stop her.

Still clutching her face, she said, "I deserved it."

The brunette let out a sigh and nodded, "yeah, you kind of did."

With that, she pushed Emma's hand away from her face and cringed at the bloodied mess that was her nose, "you can go and talk to Regina after you go to the hospital."

Emma blinked a couple of times, already feeling the pain radiating throughout her entire face, she was pretty sure that it was broken. Despite this, all she wanted to do was go and talk to her girlfriend before Zelena got home.

She shook her head and was about to grab her car keys from the side, but she stumbled and fell against the wall.

"I don't think she would appreciate you grovelling when you look like that, you need to go the hospital."

Emma didn't resist and she allowed herself to be led out of the door, but all she could think about was ever Regina would actually give her an opportunity to speak.

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought XD**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

"I need to go and talk to Regina," Emma stuttered as her best friend led her down the corridor of the hospital.

Lily sat her down on one of the waiting chairs, "Whale just gave you medication, you cannot go and talk to your girlfriend when you're high, Swan."

The blonde leaned her head back and brought her hand up to the intricate structure of dressings covering her broken nose.

The brunette slapped her hand away and shook her head, "Archie will be here soon, you can go and talk to Regina when that little eidetic head of yours is clear."

Emma's shoulders sagged and she fell further down the chair and she just nodded while her eyes began to close, "you're right…She probably already hates me anyway."

Lily rolled her eyes and was about to tell her to worry about this later, before she heard the sound of footsteps and looked up to see Storybrooke's resident therapist inspecting the blonde worriedly.

"What happened?" he asked as he fell into the seat next to the blonde.

"I tripped," Emma said blearily managing to shoot Lily a look that said 'go along with it'.

Archie looked at her disbelievingly and then turned to look at the brunette, who just nodded unconvincingly.

The red-head man just nodded and took the prescription off Lily and read over it, "how long did Whale say she has to have off school?"

"He said a week should be enough, but Emma can't miss anymore classes or she won't graduate…"

"I'll make a deal with the school, she can do some more extra credit. Can you go to the store and fill this?" he asked as he brought out his wallet and handed Lily some money.

The brunette shot her friend on last look, before she nodded and stood.

Archie watched her walk away and then turned back to the blonde with a raised eyebrow, "you tripped?"

"I'm very uncoordinated, it's not that hard to believe, Archie," she replied, her eyes dangerously close to shutting.

Archie sighed and nodded, standing from his seat, he offered his hand.

Emma took it and allowed him to bring her arm around his shoulder as he led her towards the door.

* * *

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Zelena shouted as soon as Robin answered his door.

The blond blinked a couple of times, before he looked behind him to make sure his parents hadn't heard the rampaging red-head. Stepping forward, he closed the door behind him and asked nervously, "what?"

"How could you get Killian to pay Emma to go out with my sister?" she asked incredulously.

His mouth fell open and he quickly held up his hands defensively, "how did you find out about that?"

Zelena let out an angry huff and shook her head, "it doesn't matter how I found out, the point is that you told me that Emma actually has feelings for Regina. I thought that I was just helping her move on from Daniella!"

Robin narrowed his eyes and said, "that isn't true, you only started doing that after Henry got involved. All you cared about before that was going out with Killian!"

The red head clenched her fists and desperately tried to think of a way to deny his words, but there was no way out of the fact that she had insisted that her sister find a girlfriend without even thinking about what Regina actually wanted.

"I really tried to tell you, but it just got so out of control. Plus, I was pretty sure that Regina would never actually say yes to Emma," he sighed.

Zelena deflated and hung her head in shame, "she is going to be so pissed at me…We already barely talk…"

Robin nodded and bit his lip, he had no idea how to help in this situation and he felt so guilty for the major role he had played in all of this. There was no way that Zelena could get away with not going home after this and ruining her sister's happy bubble.

"Why would you do all of this?" she sighed deeply as all of the anger filtered out of her muscles.

The blond bit the inside of his cheek and considered another lie, but he knew that he just couldn't do it again. "I thought that if you were allowed to date…then you would say yes to me…"

Zelena blinked a couple of times and took a deep breath.

She began to rethink every look Robin had ever shot at her, every little stammer he made when he tried to talk to her. She had been so focused on going out with Killian that she had failed to notice what was right in front of her, but it didn't matter anymore.

Zelena knew that she couldn't even think about going out with the blond knowing what he had done, knowing that he had lied to her. The thought made her stomach clench as she realised that this was nothing compared to what Regina would be feeling once she got home.

"You should have just told me," she sighed.

"What difference would it have made?" he laughed bitterly, "you would have just turned me down and then I wouldn't be able to spend time with you anymore. I figured that I could be just as happy being your friend…"

"I don't think you can be that anymore, Robin," the red head said with a sad smile.

Robin threw his head back in frustration and considered what he could possibly to say to change her mind, but nothing came to mind. A moment later, Zelena turned on her heels and began thinking what she could possibly say to her sister that wouldn't make her hate her forever.

* * *

Zelena swallowed hard and watched emotions race across Regina's face.

She had decided to go straight into the brunette's room and tell her point blank what had happened, ripping off the band aid and all that. But now as she watched the confusion on her older sister's face, she couldn't stop the feeling that she should have done it differently, not that there was any way that she could go back now.

After several moments of silence, Regina finally took a deep breath and made eye contact with the red head, "how long have you known?"

"About an hour…" she cringed.

"But you knew that Robin had a plan for Emma to ask me out?" she asked in a dangerously low voice.

"I…I really wanted to go out with Killian, I guess I didn't actually think about the implications…"

Regina shot to her feet, all but throwing her computer off her lap, and began stalking towards her sister.

"That is exactly your problem, Zelena, you never think! Unless it concerns you, you couldn't care less about other people."

Zelena swallowed hard as she detected Regina's steadily raising voice and began taking steps backwards, until she eventually hit the wall next to the door.

"How could you have possibly thought that this was a good idea?! Or are you so selfish that you didn't even consider that I am an actual person? Do you realise that I am you're sister, or was I just the obstacle to you dating a footballer?!"

The red-head took in a sharp breath and began shaking her head, she wanted to deny her sister's words, but ultimately, she was right.

She had been so obsessed with going out with Killian Jones that she had asked a near stranger to get find someone to go out with her sister.

"I…didn't know that Killian gave Emma money," she defended weakly.

"Oh, is that where you draw the line, Zelena. Manipulating me into a relationship is fine as long as you aren't whoring me out!" she finally shouted as she tried and failed to stop the tears falling down her cheeks.

Zelena was stunned to complete silence and she just shook her head.

Regina was about to say something else, when her door swung open to reveal Cora, "what is going on?" their mother asked with wide eyes.

Both teens turned to look at the woman and it instantly became clear which of her daughters were in the wrong. Zelena rarely looked guilty and in this moment, she looked absolutely distraught.

Regina looked back over at her sister for a moment and she couldn't resist any longer as clenched her fist and punched her straight in the face.

"Regina!" Cora shouted as she rushed over to her youngest daughter, instantly sighing in relief when she saw no major damage. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The brunette watched as the youngest girl began crying into their mother's shoulder and she just rolled her eyes, walking back over to her bed.

"Do you even care?" she asked as she began full on sobbing into her pillow.

Cora blinked a couple of times at the insinuation, she was aware that she and Henry Sr. tended to focus more on Zelena at times, but she had always assumed that Regina was too mature to need the same treatment. She had never considered that she might have been depriving her of something, or making her believe they didn't love her as much.

"Henry!" she shouted out the door and a moment later her youngest appeared from his own room across the hall, looking thoroughly confused by the scene in front of him.

"What happened?" he asked while looking between his crying siblings.

"I'll tell you later, but right now I need you to take Zelena downstairs to get some ice on her nose," she replied as she turned the red-head around by her shoulders and lightly pushed her towards her brother.

"Okay…" he said uncertainly, quickly shooting another look over at Regina, he began to lead Zelena towards the stairs.

With a deep sigh, she closed the door behind him and walked slowly over to her eldest child, "Regina…"

"Please leave me alone," the brunette mumbled into her pillow already drenched with tears.

Cora just shook her head and tentatively perched herself on the end of the bed, "you know that I can't do that, dear. Now the sooner you tell me what caused you to assault your sister, the sooner you will get your peace."

"She deserved it," came her muffled reply.

Cora took a deep breath and nodded, "as much as I love her, I'm sure she did. But that doesn't mean that you had to do it."

A second later, Regina sat up and looked at her mother through her teary eyes, "it's a little late for parenting, mom."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ever since I came out you and dad have been putting all of your focus on Zelena, Henry was the only person who even noticed that I was depressed after Daniella left."

The older brunette opened her mouth to protest her words, before she realised that she was right.

Her shoulders sagged and she brought her arm around her child, "you thought that we didn't care about anymore?"

Regina took a deep breath and shook her head, "it's not that…I know you love me, but it just felt like maybe you loved me a little less after…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Cora brought her closer to her body and began making comforting circles on her back as she used to do.

"That is ridiculous," she said softly, "your father and I love you no less than we did the day you were born, in fact, I think we love you more if it's possible."

Regina furrowed her brow and finally made eye contact with her mother, "what do you mean?"

"We were both so proud when you stopped hiding who you really are. I suppose when compared to Zelena, we thought that we had nothing to worry about…"

The younger brunette swallowed hard and nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as her mother abolished some of her more significant insecurities, but then she frowned when she remembered admitting all of this to her 'girlfriend'.

Leaning her head on her mother's shoulder, she said, "Zelena arranged for Emma to ask me out."

Cora took a moment to absorb this, before she sighed and said, "perhaps Emma's intentions were not completely pure when you two started, but as far as I can tell, she is now completely infatuated with you. Another chance couldn't hurt."

"Killian paid her about $500 to go out with me," she mumbled against her shoulder.

Biting her cheek and trying to stop herself from just jumping up to go and yell at the blonde, she brought her hand up into her daughter's hair, "that would be a no on the second chance then."

The younger brunette lightly laughed against her shoulder and then she pulled away from her mother, "am I in trouble for punching Zelena?"

Cora took a second to consider this, before she shook her head, "I believe that you understand that you shouldn't have done it and the conversation you need to have with Miss Swan will be painful enough. Besides, I need to decide a punishment for your sister…"

Regina swallowed hard and then sighed, "she did tell me almost as soon as she found out the truth…and I did punch her, so maybe you should go easy on her…"

"Are you sure, dear?"

The younger brunette nodded with a small sniffle and fell back onto her pillow.

Cora smiled weakly and stood from the bed, "do you need anything?"

Regina returned the smile and shook her head, "I think I just need time to think."

"Okay, I'll be right downstairs if you need anything," her mother replied as she leaned down and moved a piece of hair from her face, before she placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Thanks, mom."

"Oh, and try not to punch Miss Swan," she warned with a trace of a smirk.

"I can't make any promises," Regina replied.

Cora sighed and then walked towards the door hoping that Zelena was no longer in hysterics. Just before she closed the door, she looked behind and sighed again when she saw Regina's shoulders lightly shaking as a result of her tears.

* * *

Regina felt herself finally within reach of sleep, cracking her eyes open, she took a look at the clock next to her bed and sighed when she saw that it was already four in the morning. Making the decision, that tomorrow would be a sick day, she brought her blanket closer and tried to stop thinking about Emma.

She had tried texting Emma to say that they needed to talk and she had called a couple of times, but had received no answer. She was beginning to think that her soon to be ex-girlfriend was either a complete and utter coward, or she just never cared enough to even offer an attempt at an explanation.

Just as sleep was about to take her, her eyes shot open when she heard her window opening and someone stumbling in.

Considering that she had left it open slightly just to get some fresh air in, she quickly shot up and grabbed a teddy bear from beside her. Without a second thought, she threw it in the direction at the intruder.

A smashing sound was accompanied by someone making a strangled sound of pain and the brunette reached over and switched her lamp on.

Her eyebrows shot up when she saw Emma coiled over, clutching her face making intelligible sounds.

Eventually, the blonde looked up through bleary eyes and Regina instantly felt bad as soon as she noticed her already bandaged face.

Jumping off her bed, she completely forgot her anger for a moment as she led the blonde over to sit on her bed.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"The Mills family hate my nose," Emma mumbled sleepily as she blinked a couple of times.

Regina suddenly snatched her hand away from the blonde's shoulder when she was reminded of what she had spent hours thinking about. She then furrowed her brow and asked, "Zelena broke your nose?"

"She was really pissed," the blonde slurred as she fell onto her back.

The brunette looked her over and asked, "are you high?"

Emma brought up her hand and pointed at Regina, swinging her hand around sloppily, she said, "I am legally high."

The other girl rolled her eyes and slapped her hand back down, "why are you here, Emma?" she sighed.

"I…wanted to talk to you…"

"Then why didn't you answer your phone," Regina shot back.

"Lily took it off me, apparently I'm meant to be sleeping…" she sighed as she turned her head on the brunette's comfortable duvet.

Regina sighed and stood from her bed, she knew it would be hard to resist forgiving the blonde in this moment, but she didn't deserve it just because she was injured.

"Then you should go home and do that," she tried to say indifferently, but it came out shakily.

"I need to say something to you…"

"And what could you possibly say?" the brunette asked through gritted teeth.

Emma pushed herself up on her elbows and looked at Regina, her head tilted to the side and she said, "I didn't think that far ahead…"

"No, please Emma, tell me how you could possibly justify having to be paid to go out with me? Am I that abhorrent that it took $500 for you to even think about taking me for a picnic?"

"It wasn't like that…"

Regina held up her hand and continued, "I understand that you somehow think that you don't have to follow the rules just because your parents didn't keep you…"

Emma blinked a couple of times and watched as Regina's mouth fell open, clearly regretting what she said, but the fact was that she still said it.

Pushing herself off the bed, she stumbled slightly and mumbled, "I really am sorry…"

The brunette was about to grab her arm and stop her from going to the window.

She certainly felt bad for what she said, but she still couldn't deny that she was pissed at her and still couldn't allow the unsteady girl to climb out of the window.

"You can leave through the front door," she said through gritted teeth.

Emma looked disappointed and her shoulders slumped, "what would it take for another chance?"

"What would it take to get you to leave me alone?" Regina shot back with an exasperated sigh.

Letting go of her arm, she walked over to her bedside table and pulled something out.

"What are you doing?" Emma slurred as she swayed on her feet.

Counting out a couple of bills, she said, "would two hundred be enough?"

"Regina…"

"Oh, not enough?" she sneered, throwing the entire stack of money at her.

Emma looked down at all of the money on the floor and she decided that this was certainly not the best of ideas. Her heart wrenched and she swallowed hard, "are we broken up?"

"I'm surprised you even have to ask," Regina said frostily.

"Regina, what is going on?" came from the hallway and Henry Sr. walked in with a yawn.

The brunette swallowed hard and looked over at her father.

He blinked and looked between the two girls, looking at the money on the floor, he instantly guessed what had happened.

Cora had of course told him what had happened and he was having a hard time having any sympathy for the blonde who would do something like that to his little girl. But when he looked at the girl trying not to cry with her severely damaged face, he felt his anger ebb slightly.

"Regina, I think you should get some sleep," he said, "come on, Emma, I'll take you home."

The blonde nodded slightly and gave Regina one more desperate look, but her ex-girlfriend refused to make eye contact with her.

"Thank you," she mumbled and walked away from one of the only people who had made her happy in her eighteen years.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed.**

 **I need to thank QueenApples as always, and I always need to thank PerditusFic for her awesome ideas that made the basis of most of this chapter XD**

 **Reviews are a great motivator ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

-Two days later-

Lily ran her hand over the logo on the envelop that she'd found on the mat.

With a sigh, she re-read who it was addressed to and she sighed when she thought about what could be inside.

Emma had been completely introverted since Regina had refused to listen to her and this letter had the potential to completely ruin her life, or make it infinitely better.

Walking down the hall, she lightly tapped at the door and didn't bother waiting for an answer before she walked in and turned the light on.

"What the hell?" was the instant reply.

Lily ignored the grumpy protestations and walked further into the room and inspected the propped up blonde, her pain medication had clearly worn off as her eyebrows were scrunched together in pain.

"You need to get up," the brunette replied, finally coming over to stand next to the bed.

"Archie is usually more gentle than this," Emma grumbled while trying to turn away from her friend.

Lily rolled her eyes and said, "well I'm not Archie and you have to open this envelop before I do."

After a second of consideration, the blonde turned back around and fixed her somewhat blurry gaze on the letter her best friend was clutching.

"Opening other people's mail is against the law," she replied weakly.

"You and I both know that we have done way worse things," the brunette chuckled, "I could leave you to your little pain filled pity party, or you could find out if you got into college."

The blonde swallowed hard and sat up, she snatched the envelop out of the other girl's hand and then her eyes widened when she saw what college it was for.

"I didn't know that you applied to NYU, Swan," Lily teased.

Emma threw it down onto her lap and shook her head, "it doesn't matter, I can't go even if I get in…"

Lily rolled her eyes and retorted, "you could easily go the whole four years without ever running into Regina. You have one assignment left and then you'll graduate. You can prove every single person wrong who ever said that you would never amount to anything."

"You're being dramatic," Emma sighed.

"Just open the damn letter!"

The blonde grabbed the envelop quickly and ripped it open while giving Lily a cautious look.

The brunette rocked on the balls of her feet as she watched her friend's eyes move across the paper and by the time she threw it down, she felt like she was about to explode. However, when she saw Emma's downward turned expression, her shoulders slumped and she grabbed the letter.

After she had scanned it, she sighed and said, "being on a waiting list isn't the end of the world."

"I'm pretty low down on the list…"

"Well…you can still go to Storybrooke University, right? You got that letter ages ago, just graduate, you know that you could easily get the grades they're asking for…"

The blonde nodded and turned back to face the wall, "I don't need to go to college," she grumbled.

Lily rolled her eyes and said, "you can't give up after all of the work you put in just because your girlfriend dumped you!"

"Why do I need to go to college? I don't even know what I would major in," Emma mumbled, choosing not to comment on the mention of Regina.

"You could major in literally anything, Swan, what could possibly be a challenge to you?"

Emma let out a huff, still refusing to face her, "can you get my pain pills please?"

The brunette ignored her request and continued, "you just have to go to school until graduation, finish that last assignment and then ace finals and you'll…"

The blonde shot up into a sitting position and instantly winced as pained consumed her face.

Pushing it aside, she fixed Lily with narrowed eyes and said, "I don't need to go to school because I don't need to graduate. I'm just going with my original plan of getting a job so that I don't have to deal with the bullshit of school anymore. I just want to finally just be allowed to be alone!"

"That is not what you want," Lily sighed, "you're just saying that because of Regina…"

"Will you stop bringing her up?! I screwed up and it's over, I thought for like five minutes that I could actually get my shit together, but it's too late. Now will you please get me my fucking pills?!"

Lily ran a hand across her face and nodded, "fine," she huffed, "screw up your entire life over some girl."

* * *

-Two weeks later-

Henry Jr. looked between his two sisters and sighed deeply as he placed a piece of food into his mouth. He noticed that Zelena kept shooting glances at her older sister, who was adamantly looking at the wall.

The silence continued to reign over the room, until Henry Sr. exchanged a look with his wife who gave him a nod of encouragement.

"How was school?" he asked weakly, hoping that one of his female children would answer the question.

Regina looked over at him with a doubtful look and she just shrugged and looked back over to the wall, Zelena just huffed and rolled her eyes at her sister.

"Your father asked you a question," Cora said lowly.

The brunette just shook her head and turned back to her parents, "school was fine."

Henry Sr. looked over at his son, who shot him a sympathetic look. He knew that the younger Henry had been trying to help repair their relationship, but it would appear that they had grown apart further than anyone had thought. Zelena knew what she did was wrong, but she was just going about saying 'sorry' the wrong way, she was just trying to be around her sister more than usual and it was obvious that it was pissing the brunette off.

Silence stretched on for longer and Regina finally placed the last of her food in her mouth, "may I be excused?"

Cora sighed in defeat and ran her hand across her face before she just nodded and waved her hand in permission.

The teen all but flew out of her chair, and each person left in the room were pretty sure that she was just going to her room to brood as she had been doing for the past fortnight.

Zelena's head fell on her hand and she looked at her parents almost pleadingly, "how do I get her to talk to me again?"

"It's not as if the two of you were ever the most talkative of people," Henry Jr. shot back, but fell back in his seat when their parents each fixed him with a withering glare.

After a sigh, the youngest person in the room said in a calmer tone, "you have no idea what it took for her to get over Daniella, but can you imagine how much worse it feels to know that her sister was involved?"

"I didn't know what Robin did," the red-head practically whined.

Cora held up her hand before Henry could say anything else and said, "just give your sister some space Zelena and Henry, stop making Zelena feel bad. She knows what she did is wrong," Henry Jr. looked as if he was about to protest, but she gave him a warning look and continued, "that doesn't justify it and Regina shouldn't forgive you straight away."

Each of the remaining children nodded and Henry Sr. said after a moment of silence, "you may both be excused."

They both left the room, Henry Jr. was sure that they would be discussing the fact that their family was falling apart and he couldn't take it anymore. He could understand why Regina was pissed at Zelena, but he knew that she had to get over it or it would mean that she genuinely ran the risk of becoming truly estranged from her sister. He knew that Regina would never admit it, but in the long run, it would hurt the brunette more to lose her.

It was for this reason that he grabbed Zelena's arm before she could even try and open her bedroom door.

"What the hell are you doing?" the red-head asked weakly.

"You and I both know that mom was wrong, Regina doesn't need space, she needs to be forced to get over herself."

"Get over herself?" Zelena asked incredulously, "she finally opened herself up to dating again and then she found out that Emma was paid to go out with her. Don't you think she had the right to be just a little pissed at me?!...Why are you smiling?"

Henry just grinned harder and said, "you finally understand Regina. Now just go to her and say sorry."

"I have said sorry!"

"You've said it like you deserve it, but you know that she isn't obligated to forgive you. Don't go in there expecting her to instantly start wanting to spend time with you."

"She doesn't even want to talk to me, if I go in there, she'll either ignore me or just punch me again," Zelena sighed.

"Which is why you need a mediator," Henry retorted and before his sister could even try and say no, he dragged her across the hall and rapped on the door.

He heard a weak 'come in' and smirked when it became clear that Regina just thought it was him. He opened the door and managed to pull the older girl in behind him.

Regina looked up from the book that she was reading and instantly scowled at both of her siblings, "what?"

Zelena tried to pull herself away and thought about just running out of the room, but her brother seemed to be stronger than she thought he was and she soon found herself pushed onto the bed.

Henry sat down next to her and smiled at his eldest sister across the room, sat at her desk, "you two need to talk."

Regina rolled her eyes and turned back around, as if not looking at them would mean that they weren't really there, "I have a lot to do."

"This will take like five minutes," the younger brunette argued and then he nudged Zelena who just shook her head.

An oppressive silence passed and Regina finally huffed and turned to face them, "is there any need to be sat on my bed?"

"Yes," Henry instantly shot back, "Zelena has something that she has to say to you."

"It doesn't look like she has," the older brunette shot back as she pointed to the red-head who was staring at her lap.

Henry sighed dramatically and said, "she's just too scared to talk to you."

Regina rolled her eyes and said, "and we're back to this being pointless…"

Taking a deep breath, Zelena finally looked up at her sister and swallowed hard before she said in a shaky voice, "I really am sorry."

"So I've heard," the brunette sneered.

Zelena looked like she was about to argue, but Henry grabbed her arm and shook his head, he knew that most of their conversations turned into shouting matches and he just needed for the red-head to apologise without getting defensive, she just had to admit that what she did was wrong. He just hoped that would be enough for Regina to consider forgiving her.

The cheerleader nodded her understanding to him and said as calmly and as evenly as possible, "Robin told me that Emma was really into you. I just thought that he was helping someone who liked you, I had no idea that he got Killian to pay her, but I know that I shouldn't have let it happen in the first place…"

Regina set her jaw and looked down at the ground, she had honestly forgiven her sister a couple days after she had punched her. Objectively, what she had done was not as bad as what Emma had done. If the blonde had started having feelings for her, then she could have come clean earlier. If Zelena had believed that Emma had actually liked her, she understood that it must have seemed like a win-win situation to her. Despite this, being angry at her was a way of deflecting her feelings.

She felt truly ridiculous for feeling this way to begin with, after all, she and Emma had barely been together for a month, but the relationship had just felt so right. It had taken a long time to trust Daniella enough to agree to be her girlfriend, so she had convinced herself that she should take a defeat tact with her newest relationship. The whole thing was making her wonder if she even deserved to have a girlfriend, and she just felt like taking it out on someone.

However, now that she saw just how desperate the red-head looked for forgiveness, she just felt bad for putting her sister through all that misery. She could now see that making the younger teen feel terrible wasn't doing anything but make everyone in her family miserable.

With a deep sigh, she stood from her desk chair and came over to sit next to her siblings.

Zelena's eyebrows shot up and she exchanged a look with Henry, the boy was shocked for a moment, before he just nodded in encouragement and the cheerleader turned back to look at her sister.

Regina perched herself on the edge of the bed and said, "you shouldn't have used me to get a date with Killian, but I should have just told you why I didn't want you to go out with him…"

The red-head smiled slightly and nodded, "it probably could have avoided all of this, but I get why you didn't want to talk about it."

Henry looked between them and the smiled when it appeared that they no longer wanted to murder one another, "does this mean that you don't hate each other anymore?"

Regina smirked at her brother and said, "it was never hatred…but I'm still not sure that everything can go back to normal…"

Zelena's shoulders slumped, before a thought occurred to her and a grin tugged at the corner of her lips, "I don't want things to go back to how they were…"

Henry and Regina each furrowed their brows and exchanged looks of confusion, but Zelena elaborated:

"Before, every time we talked, we argued about something and it was usually my fault. We used to be basically joined at the hip, but since you started dating, we grew apart. I miss knowing everything about you…"

Regina looked down at the blanket and then pushed herself further onto the bed, so that she was actually sitting next to her, "you can't expect that to happen overnight."

"I know," Zelena sighed, "but maybe we could watch a movie or something?"

Henry jumped off the bed and smiled at each of them, "I'll leave you guys alone, try and be civil for as long as possible."

Zelena rolled her eyes, but just smiled at him, "thanks for the mediation," she said sardonically.

"It worked didn't it?" he shot back with a huge smirk, with that, he left the room.

The two teens sat in silence for a couple of seconds, before Zelena asked in a small voice, "are you sure you don't hate me?"

"It wasn't entirely your fault," Regina sighed as she fell beck against the wall, "it's Emma who I should be hating."

"Don't you find it weird that she came here to apologise though? If she really didn't care about you, then why would she scale our house?" the red-head asked as she fell back next to the older girl.

"She was high after you broke her nose," Regina shot back with a raised eyebrow.

Zelena looked down at her lap, but finally broke into a smirk, "she really pissed me off…"

"Yeah, I heard about your rampage across town, slapping Killian, breaking Emma's nose, yelling at Robin. That begs the question though, why was Robin the only one who was spared your physical anger."

Zelena took a deep breath and replied, "I was going to slap him…he basically paid someone to go out with my sister and lied about it. When I got there though, he looked so guilty and I realised that I just missed all of the signs of what was going on because I really wanted to go out with Killian. I didn't realise that he only did it because he really wanted to go out with me…"

Regina tilted her head and inspected the slight blush that was adorning the younger girl's cheeks and sighed when she realised something, "you like him back?"

"I…I think I had some kind of epiphany that he should have been the one that I liked, but after what he did…"

The brunette held up her hand and said, "Emma accepted the money, Killian gave her the money, Robin was just a love sick boy who regretted what he did…he definitely deserves some blame for what happened, but I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to consider forgiving him…"

Zelena nodded with a small smile of gratitude, but then she took a deep breath and decided to voice her opinion, though she was a bit afraid that it would widened the rift in their relationship that they had only just started fixing.

"If I can consider forgiving him…maybe you could consider forgiving Emma…" Regina opened her mouth to protest, but the red-head just held up her hand, "her nose was broken, I think that she at least deserves one conversation…"

"She hasn't tried to talk to me since I refused to talk to her…" the brunette sighed as she looked longing over to the phone that she had been checking almost non-stop for the past two weeks. "How much can she really care?"

Zelena sighed deeply and shook her head, "maybe if you gave her a chance…"

Regina nodded slowly and replied, "I'll think about it…so what movie do you want to watch?"

The red-head shrugged and said, "I'm supposed to be re-learning everything about you, so…I guess we'll watch your favourite."

The brunette smiled and got off the bed to go over to her DVD shelf, but was stopped when Zelena put her hand up cautiously, "it's not Jane Eyre or something like that is it?"

Laughing, Regina shook her head and grabbed it off the shelf.

Zelena caught the DVD and her eyebrows shot up, "The Avengers, really?"

The older teen laughed and nodded, "I spend a lot of time with Henry."

"So…you read comic books?"

Regina pointed across the room and Zelena noticed the pile of comics on her desk, "wow…you've changed a lot…"

"You have a lot to learn, dear sister," Regina chuckled as she grabbed her laptop and fell back onto her bed.

 **Let me know what you thought XD**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Robin brought his bag straps closer to his body and continued to make his way through the car park.

He hadn't spoken to Zelena in two weeks, and no matter how much Will tried, there was nothing that could make him feel better about what had happened.

Regina and Zelena seemed to be getting on better than ever before, but every so often, he would walk past the older Mills sister and he would notice just how miserable she looked. It was becoming clear that the brunette was incapable of hiding how she really felt, though he assumed that it helped that she had yet to see the object of her thoughts. Emma was due back at school the week earlier, but no one had seen her around and he assumed that Regina wasn't considering just how hard the blonde was taking the breakup.

Just before he made it to his car, he found himself crashing into a much taller boy's chest and he stumbled backwards.

He heard a small laugh and then looked up to see Killian blocking his path with his arms across his chest, "watch where you're going," he sneered.

The blond rolled his eyes and returned with, "what do you want?"

"I think that you owe me something Locksley."

With a deep breath, Robin replied, "I can't afford to pay you back…"

Killian furrowed his brow and shook his head, "what are you talking about? Swan accosted me the other day and basically threw it at my face. She didn't even spend any of it…"

The blond took a moment to take this in, he wondered whether anyone in the Mills family knew that little bit of information, but he just pushed it aside and shook his head, "then what do you want?"

"I had my heart set on going out with Zelena, can you imagine how much it destroyed me after our date was cut so abruptly short?" he asked almost mockingly with a hand over his chest.

"It was your own fault that it didn't go well," Robin replied with narrowed eyes, "you didn't have to throw the fact that you slept with Daniella in her face. How did you think that would go?"

"Is it my fault that Zelena is so sensitive?" Killian asked,

Robin looked longingly past him at his car, he knew that even if he managed to get past him and escape, he would still be harassed until the footballer graduation, assuming that ever happened.

"What do you want?" the younger boy asked flatly.

"Well, it took me a while to get over Zelena- "

"Three weeks," Robin cut him off.

Killian cleared his throat and continued, "as soon as the pain started to go away, I realised that it would be easy to get over her if I started seeing someone else."

"And how do you expect me to be able to help with that?" Robin sighed, "just because I managed to help Emma to get Regina to go out with her, it doesn't mean that I'm some kind of professional. Especially considering how it ended…"

"Oh boohoo, so they broke up. You need to get over it, it wasn't like Zelena was ever actually going to go out with you," the black haired boy chuckled.

Robin clenched his fists, he considered asking how the older boy knew about how he felt, but then he realised that it must have been obvious to everyone expect Zelena.

"Just tell me what you want," Robin replied with a resigned sigh.

Killian smirked and said, "there is someone who I thought could help me in this troubling time and you have a unique ability to help her to realise that she wants me." The blond looked at him expectantly, he couldn't even be bothered to question him anymore, since it would probably just get him berated again, "Ashley," Killian finally clarified.

Robin closed his eyes in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I will not convince my sister to go out with you."

"You know that words hurt," Killian said with narrowed eyes, "you got my hopes up and now it is your responsibility to get me the date that I paid for."

A cracking sounded out throughout the parking lot as Robin's fist connected with the older boy's face.

The footballer fell to the ground, and brought his hand up to his face before pulling it back and inspecting it to see the blood gushing from his split lip.

Robin tried to take a calming breath, but he could still feel himself shaking from anger, "you don't deserve Ashley, you don't deserve Zelena, you're just a privileged jackass who thinks he can buy anything with daddy's money."

With that, he stepped over Killian and over to his car, before he looked over to the side and noticed a small group of people had gathered following the incident.

His eyes were instantly drawn to one bystander in particular, who was staring at him with a mix of shock and admiration and he offered her a small grin.

Killian stood and grumbled something like 'I'll get you later', before he walked away with a huff.

Zelena watched him go and then walked over to the blond standing next to the passenger side of his car.

She was about to begin the conversation that she knew that they needed to have, before she looked behind herself and noticed that there was still a crowd.

She took a deep breath and then said, "you know...Regina has to stay after school for some extra credit so I have to walk home..."

Robin instantly perked up and replied, "I could give you a ride...you know, if you want..."

The red head nodded and the boy instantly opened his door and smiled as she slid into the seat, he ran around to his side and dropped into the driver's side.

He was about to start the car, before he thought of something and then took a deep breath, "sorry about what you just saw..."

Zelena smiled at him and then said, "it was really sweet."

Robin looked down at his lap and then shook his head, "it wouldn't have been necessary if I wasn't an idiot though..."

"You're not the only idiot," the red-head chuckled sadly, "I was too selfish to think what it would mean to manufacture a relationship for my sister. Even if you shouldn't have told me that Emma actually liked Regina, I shouldn't have agreed to the plan in the first place...I mean...I didn't even care if Emma actually liked Regina in the beginning..."

Robin thought about trying to convince her that she was somehow in the right, but he knew that they had both screwed up, so he just sighed and nodded in agreement.

They sat in silence for a moment, before Robin realised what he was supposed to be doing and he laughed nervously as he finally started the car.

They spent the whole ride back to Mifflin Street in silence, though it was more comfortable than either of them had expected it to be.

A few minutes later, Robin parked up outside the mansion, and then began tapping his fingers nervously on the steering wheel.

Zelena tilted her head and wondered why she hadn't noticed before just how adorable this boy was.

"I'm really sorry for lying..." he began, but he was cut off when the red-head leaned forward and connected their lips in a quick peck.

She leaned back and inspected the completely dumbfounded expression on Robin's face and grinned at his reaction.

"I was not expecting that," he breathed after a moment.

"Why not?" the red-head asked with a grin.

"Because...I thought you would be pissed at me forever..."

"Well, I was really, incredibly furious for what you did. But then I realised that it was my fault that you didn't want to tell me the truth. You wanted to go out with me and I was obsessed with going out with Killian, as stupid as the whole situation was, we were all kind of blinded by the prospect of dating...Everyone except Emma I guess..."

Robin frowned and then took a deep breath, before he mumbled, "Emma didn't spend any of the money and she gave it back to Killian..."

Zelena furrowed her brow, before she deflated and fell back against her seat, "she really likes my sister..."

"That's what I thought...maybe spending time with Regina made her develop real feelings, which is why she didn't spend the money. If she didn't care, she would still be coming to school and she would have kept all of it..."

The red-head nodded and thought about this for a moment.

No matter how short lived the relationship had been, Emma seemed to have genuinely made Regina happy, and anyone with eyes could see the difference Regina ellicted from the supposed badass.

"But how do you suppose that we get Regina to realise that?" Zelena sighed.

Robin shrugged and replied, "I don't think that you should trust me to come up with any more ideas..."

The red head smiled weakly at him and placed her hand over his, before she said, "it may have started bad, but me and Regina have talked more in the past few days than we have since I was like thirteen. Regina actually told me that I should give you a real chance..."

"So she forgave me?" he asked in shock, at Zelena's nod, he added, "so how do we get her to forgive Emma?"

Zelena sighed and replied, "I think we need to get someone else involved..."

"Henry?" Robin asked instantly with a small grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

The red head laughed and nodded, "I think we might need one of his operations."

* * *

Lily sat cross legged on Emma's bed and continued to read the essay that she had found on her laptop.

The blonde had gone for her final check-up at the hospital, so she had seized the chance to try and find out if she had done the final assignment.

The brunette had no idea how she would go about getting her friend to study for and take the finals, but she did know that she could take this one step at a time and at least try and find this assignment.

She had soon found that the Emma had started it, but she still had a significant amount to write and she had no idea how she would even go about finishing it for her considering that it was for a subject that she had never taken in her life.

Lily was about to give up and think of another plan, but she had found a file labelled 'Emma Swan appeal for admission'.

She couldn't stop herself from reading it and now she was more than sure that Emma had been lying when she said she just wanted to get a job. The file seemed to have been saved two hours after she had gotten the letter from NYU, though she had checked her E-mails to see that she had set up a draft to send to NYU but hadn't clicked the send button. Then she had sent it to someone else, in the hope that it would help convince the stubborn brunette that Emma wasn't a complete liar.

Lily had, of course, sent the message without a second thought, but now she was reading the essay for the third time. She knew that she and Emma had this kind of unspoken rule about not sharing how they felt about anything, and she had to admit that it was rather nice to get an insight into her friend's mind.

Even if she had been absolutely sure about the way Emma felt about Regina, she hadn't known about everything that went with it.

"Why the fuck are you always in my room?" came an exasperated sigh from the doorway.

Lily looked up and smirked at her friend, before she looked back down and began reading"'I spent my life trying to impress the people who didn't even have the common courtesy to keep me. By the time I matured past this idealistic stage, cynicism took hold and failing seemed to be the only true form of rebellion that felt at all effective.'…"

Emma sighed deeply and walked across the room, before Lily could go any further, she snatched the laptop and snapped it shut before falling onto her bed.

"Why are you going through my laptop?"

Lily tilted her head and looked the blonde over, "you seem oddly calm about this..."

Emma shrugged and just shook her head, "I don't feel like there is anything I can do to convince you to just stay out of my business."

"So this is some kind of resigned acceptance?" Lily laughed.

The blonde just shrugged again and replied, "so?"

"I was trying to send your last assignment and then try and force you to study," she sighed.

"I'm guessing that you failed and decided to just go through all my other stuff"

"I didn't plan to do it," Lily defended, "so why didn't you send it?"

Emma rolled her eyes and fell onto her back, "do you not want me to stay in Storybrooke or something? Do you find me that annoying?"

"I want you to be happy and I saw the smile when you was applying to NYU. I know that it was originally just because of Regina..."

"How do you know that?" Emma sighed.

"I would have read it out if you didn't take it off me," Lily pouted, "you know that Regina is the only reason that you started considering college. She may have been the reason that you started thinking of your future, but that doesn't mean that you need her to go to college."

The blonde was silent for a moment, before she said, "I don't need her...I want her..."

Lily considered whether she should mention that she sent the essay, but she thought better of it. She knew that it would just turn into another argument and this was the most that they had talked without her friend being too drowsy from pain pills or with her being overly closed off about Regina.

"Then why don't you talk to her?" Lily sighed.

The blonde closed her eyes and shook her head, "I can't..."

The brunette instantly understood and she just nodded and stood from the bed.

"You could at least try and finish that essay..."

Emma just shook her head and placed the laptop next to her, "I would rather not waste my time."

Lily opened her mouth to try and convince her that she had to, but she suddenly thought better of it.

"You want anything from the diner?" she asked in a resigned tone.

Emma looked at her in confusion, she had fully expected this conversation to go on for much longer, but when she made eye contact with her best friend, she had a feeling that she had a plan.

"What did you do?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing," Lily shot back defensively, "I'll be back later with a bear claw."

Before Emma could argue, Lily turned on her heels and left the room, followed by the blonde's distrustful eyes.

* * *

Lily tapped her fingers on the counter and continued to wait for her order.

She was wondering whether Regina had checked her E-mails yet and she also wondered if it would change anything for the brunette.

However, when she looked absently around, she saw the proof that the girl had probably yet to see it, Regina, Zelena and Henry Jr. sat in a booth having lunch and she had to stop herself from going over and demanding that she look at her messages right that moment.

The other brunette seemed to sense someone looking at her and made eye contact with Lily.

Lily could tell that Regina was wondering whether it would be helpful to go over and talk to her, but a moment later, she excused herself from her siblings and walked over to the counter.

The brunette came over and leaned next to her.

"Can I help you?" she asked after a moment.

Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes and then turned around to accept the take out bag from the waitress behind the counter.

"Are you that vain?" she shot back.

"Not usually, but when someone is staring at me, I tend to want an explanation," Regina replied with narrowed eyes.

Lily was silent for a moment, before she replied, "you really hurt Emma."

Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I don't see how, I hear she made quite the profit."

"She gave Killian the money back, she really likes you and now she won't even go to school, let alone try and actually graduate."

"She doesn't seem to care much, why hasn't she tried to contact me if she cared?" Regina sneered after a moment of thought, she chose not to allow herself to go back to thinking their relationship was in any way real.

"I know this is hard to imagine for the girl who grew up in a mansion, but Emma has had more than twenty foster parents. Do you know what it's like to be sent back?" Regina was about to argue, before Lily held up her hand and stopped her, she was already pretty consumed by her rant, "Emma is petrified of rejection. If there is even the slightest chance that someone doesn't want her, she'll put up her walls and try and pretend that she doesn't need them."

Regina swallowed hard and shook her head, "she came to see me that night..." she said weakly.

"Pain pills tend to allow people to let go of insecurities. You act so hard done by because you think Emma betrayed you, but you are destroying her by not even agreeing to hear her out."

The other brunette looked down at the floor, she clenched and unclenched her fists. She was pissed about being lectured, but she couldn't find a way to poke any holes in what she said, other than the fact that she was afraid to talk to her after all these weeks.

"I need to go back to my meal," Regina mumbled and just went back over to the booth without looking back over at Lily.

The girl still standing at the booth let out a huff.

That was not exactly how she had expected things to go, she just hoped that she had laid the ground-work for when she read exactly how Emma felt.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed XD**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

Zelena rolled her eyes deeply and threw a balled up piece of paper at the brunette boy sitting at her desk.

"We do not need a 'operation name', it's really not important," she announced in frustration.

Henry just shook his head and continued to stare at the blank piece of paper on the desk, "this would be so much easier if Robin didn't have to leave."

"His mom found out that he punched Killian," the red head pointed out, "besides, he was only here to convince you that we need to get Emma and Regina back together."

The brunette let out a huff and turned to face her, "are you really only attracted to him because he assaulted someone?"

Zelena sighed and sat up to look him in the eye and replied, "I realised before that I liked him and Regina suggested that I should give him a chance. Seeing him standing up to Killian just proved that he was really sorry for what he did and I figured that if Regina was alright with it…"

Henry nodded slowly, he was strangely alright with Robin, even if he had been cautious of him when they had first met, the blond seemed to actually care about his sister. Then again, it could just be because anyone would be a million times better than Killian, but there was one more issue.

"So…are you just going to lie to dad? Or is a reason that you're so intent on getting them back together?"

Zelena smiled weakly, she knew that she should be insulted for his words, but it wasn't as if Henry didn't have a basis for his accusation.

"Regina asked dad if I could go out with him, apparently she's really convincing…"

Henry chuckled and nodded his agreement, "there is a reason why she wants to be a lawyer."

There was silence for a moment and the brunette turned back to face the desk, before he spun back around with a huge smile on his face, "mongoose!"

The red head looked over at him with raised eyebrows and she blinked a couple of times before she laughed and asked, "what?"

"The name of the operation," he shot back as if it were obvious, "Operation Mongoose."

"Why?" Zelena asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Mon-goose," he said slowly, "my…goose, like 'my swan."

"Huh uh…well instead of questioning that, I'm just going to ask what Operation Mongoose involves," she replied while rolling her eyes and falling back onto her bed.

Henry looked down at the floor and scrunched his face in thought, "maybe we could force them to talk by getting them to meet for lunch. Regina will think she's meeting you and Emma will think she's meeting Lily…"

Zelena continued to stare at the ceiling as she shook her head and replied, "that is idiotic, one of them would just walk out as soon as they realise what's going on."

"Do you have any suggestions?" he snapped.

The red head rolled her eyes and leaned herself up on her elbows to fix him with narrowed eyes, "I came to you because I thought you would have an idea."

"We could just leave them to it…" the younger sibling suggested, "if they're meant to be together then they should be able to figure it out for themselves."

"That would be an excellent suggestion if they weren't both the stubbornest people to have ever lived," Zelena sighed dramatically. "You know for a fact that Regina would probably go the rest of her life hating Emma and that Emma will probably just go the rest of her life hating herself. We have to do something so that they don't both turn out to be completely incapable of relationships."

Henry's eyebrows shot up and he asked, "what makes you so sure that this relationship is such a big deal for both of them? They could both just go to college and meet someone new and probably never think about each other again."

"They might be able to do that, but there is also a chance that they are perfect together. You have to admit that Regina wasn't even that happy when she was with Daniella. She likes being able to be public with Emma and Emma likes being with Regina, even if they break up again in another three weeks, at least they can give the relationship a real chance."

The brunette sighed and nodded, "I guess that makes sense, but the fact remains that we need to find a way to get them to try again."

"How about…" Zelena began, but trailed off when she realised that she had nothing.

"Not lying to your sister again," someone supplied from their position leant against the door frame.

Each of the teen's eyes shot to the door and they both swallowed hard when they realised that their mother must have been listening in on a good portion of their conversation.

After a moment to let the shock wear off, Henry asked, "what do you mean, mom?"

Cora looked between her two youngest children before she unhitched herself from the doorframe and walked further into the room, "perhaps you may consider simply telling Regina that she needs to go and talk to Emma."

"You really think that would work?" Zelena asked sheepishly.

"This whole thing started because of lying to Regina, if you go to her and tell her exactly what you think, she can make her own decision as to whether or not she wishes to consider talking to Emma again."

"Do you really want them to get back together?" Henry asked sceptically, he was sure that he was going to have to convince his parents, but it seemed like Cora knew more about what was going on than he first thought.

"When she's not being paid to date Regina, she can be a decent girl. I'm assuming that there isn't going to be a repeat of that."

Henry and Zelena nodded vigorously, and the brunette of the two said, "she gave Killian the money back, so we're pretty sure that she actually developed feelings for Regina."

"Then go and tell Regina and allow her to make an informed decision."

The two teens exchanged a look, it became clear that Operation Mongoose was completely pointless and they each felt like morons for not thinking of being more direct.

Cora took a moment to inspect each of them and when it became clear that they agreed with her point of view, she turned on her heels and said over her shoulder, "if I catch wind of any more operations, you will both be grounded until you go to college."

* * *

-Fifteen minutes earlier-

Regina rolled her eyes as she stared at her updating laptop.

Tapping a pain against the pad that she had been writing notes on for AP English, she ran a hand through her hair and her thoughts began to drift away from the essay she had possibly just lost.

Since lunch, Lily's words had been weighing on her mind, it made complete sense that Emma would be afraid of rejection.

At this point, she was just afraid of going to Emma and finding out that she wasn't as torn up about this as Lily had made out. She had convinced herself that the blonde didn't care about her and that made it easier for her to pretend that she didn't care about her.

Now that she imagined that Emma had some deeply set psychological reason for not talking to her, she felt terrible, but this was mostly because it filled her with hope.

The fear of rejection explained why she didn't reveal what she had done, but the fact that she had returned the money meant that she must have had some kind of feelings for her.

At this point, the only thing holding her back from going to talk to Emma was the fact that she was afraid of them getting back together and it not working out. She was pretty sure that there was no way that she would be able to handle it if they broke up again, but then again, she couldn't exactly handle being broken up.

Finally, she looked up and saw that her laptop was back on and sighed in relief as she quickly typed in her password.

Within seconds, she let out a frustrated groan when she saw that her essay had failed to auto-save. Running her hand across her face, she closed the blank word document and just decided to give up for the night, figuring that she hadn't lost that many words, and she could just catch up tomorrow.

It was for this reason that she lazily turned on the internet, and then tapped her fingers on the mouse pad when she tried to think of what she could possibly do.

Her fingers seemed to decide for herself as she opened up her e-mails and she instantly furrowed her brow when she saw a message from Emma.

Though she had waited for some form of contact, this was certainly not the medium that she had thought the blonde would choose.

However, when she opened it and noted the attachment, it soon became clear that she had been hacked by her friend as she read the quick message written underneath it, 'this should convince you Mills – Lily.'

After some hesitation, she finally opened the attachment, and as she quickly scanned through what she soon realised was a letter to NYU, she felt the tension fall from her shoulders.

'Seconds chances are not something that many get in life and certainly something that every person deserves. So imagine my surprise when I was given about my tenth chance. Four months before graduation, I was sure that I was going to fail and just be the write-off that every single foster parent believed I would be. But then I met her. What started as a simple ploy to gain money turned into the best thing that ever happened in my life. Regina Mills reminded me of what I could do, she made me realise that I was wasting my eidetic gift. But most of all, she allowed me to discover what it would have been like to have someone be supportive, I finally had someone who seemed proud of what I can do.'

"Regina?" Zelena asked from behind the clearly engrossed brunette.

Said girl blinked away a few tears and turned to face her two siblings who were looking at her with completely dumbfounded expressions.

"What were you reading?" Henry asked with a tilted head as he tried to see if he could read it from across the room.

The brunette swallowed hard and thought about lying for a moment, before she realised that it would have literally no purpose.

"Emma wrote an appeal letter and Lily sent me a copy of it…"

Henry and Zelena exchanged a look, before the red head asked, "and what does that prove?"

"It proves that she has feelings for me," Regina replied in an almost trance. Henry looked as if he were about to ask another question, but the older brunette continued, seemingly not completely aware that the pair were listening to her. "She gave the money back to Killian because she didn't want to spend it once she actually started getting to know me. She hasn't tried to talk to me because she's so used to rejection that she thinks there's no hope…I'm such an idiot!"

With her final words, she shot out of her seat and turned to face her siblings, her expression suggesting that she fully realised that they were in the room.

Zelena blinked a couple of times and then turned to her brother, "that was way easier than I thought it would be."

Henry rolled his eyes and looked over to Regina, "so you finally realised that you were being stubborn?"

The brunette just shook her head at her brother and asked, "if you knew all of this, then why did you allow me to wait so long?!"

The red head and other brunette just shrugged and Henry offered an explanation, "in our defence, we kind of hated Emma until we found out that she gave back the money."

Regina nodded in understanding and the three of them stood in silence for a moment, before Zelena threw her arm out to point at the door.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" she asked with a grin tugging at the corner of her lips.

The older girl looked in the direction that she was pointing and nodded slowly, before she looked back to her sister, "what am I supposed to say to her?"

"How about 'we're both morons, can we go back to being morons together?'" Henry suggested.

Regina shot him an unimpressed look but he just smirked and nodded to the exit, "just go," he laughed, "you'll figure out what to say when you get there."

The brunette swallowed hard and nodded, when she was at the door, she looked at her siblings one more time, instantly receiving two supportive nods, which caused her to smile and begin resolutely walking down the hall.

"So…Operation Mongoose was a success," Henry chuckled.

Zelena just shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh, "all we did was walk into her room."

"Maybe that just proves how good we are," he said triumphantly as he sat at Regina's desk.

"What are you doing?" the red head asked cautiously.

"I'm seeing what got them together," he replied as if it were obvious.

Zelena bit her lip and looked over to the door, clearly afraid of getting in trouble.

"Regina will be too in love to yell at us," Henry pointed out as he continued to scan the essay.

The cheerleader thought about this for a second, before she just shook her head and pulled the boy out of the chair.

"Hey! I didn't even get past the first paragraph."

"Get out you little weirdo," she laughed as she snapped the laptop shut.

Henry sighed dramatically and said, "I'm beginning to think that you and Regina uniting is a bad thing…"

"You brought this on yourself," Zelena smirked as she pushed the curious boy out of Regina's room.

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought XD**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

"I can't force her to go to school, Lily," Archie sighed as he placed a plate with a sandwich on it in front of his first foster child.

"You could," the brunette sighed.

"Even if I somehow managed to get her to attend, there is nothing that could force her to actually do anything other than physically be there," the therapist argued.

Lily's shoulders slumped and she made to grab the food, but she thought better of it and asked, "didn't you offer one to Emma?"

Archie shrugged and replied, "she hasn't had the biggest appetite in the past few weeks. I have her assurance that she is eating enough to stay alive."

"Is waiting for her to want to talk really the best option?"

"Patience is pretty much the first semester of college," he chuckled.

Lily smirked slightly and returned with, "you're hilarious. But if you carry on being patient, she's going to fail…"

"Then she will have summer vacation to realise what she really wants and I will support her whether she wants to get a job or repeat senior year. I have made that clear to her, so right now, she just needs time to figure out what she really wants."

The brunette looked at the counter and tried to think of a hole in his argument, but she had no doubt that pretty much everything he said was well reasoned. She knew that Archie probably assumed that Emma would get over Regina after some time apart, but she couldn't help the feeling that the two of them were somehow meant to be together.

"Can you at least make her stop brooding in her room," she sighed after a moment, deciding that there was no way she could rationalise thinking that Emma and Regina were some kind of True Love pairing.

The ginger man smiled slightly at her concern and shook his head, "as long as she is physically healthy, I'll let her work through her emotions a while longer. Should anything change, I would force her to leave the little cave she has created for herself."

The brunette nodded and brought the sandwich up to her mouth and took a bite, they sat in silence for a moment, before it was broken by the sound of a frantic knock at the door.

Archie stepped forward to go and answer it and Lily just grabbed the plate from the counter and followed him to the front door.

He yanked it open, shooting a questioning look at the curious teen next to him.

Two sets of eyebrows shot up when they both recognised the brunette standing on the other side, "Regina?" Archie asked in shock.

The teen smiled tentatively at the pair and shuffled from foot to foot, "may I please talk to Emma?"

The therapist shot Lily a look and instantly noticed how happy she looked about the prospect, "er…okay…you know where her room is right?"

Regina smiled in relief, she was somewhat worried that she would be denied access, but they each looked somewhat happy that she was there.

"Thank you," she said and then tilted her head when they each remained standing in her standing in her way.

After a moment, Archie and Lily seemed to register the issue and they stepped out of the way.

Regina began making her way to the room that she had a couple of 'studying sessions' in, but she heard someone run after her and then felt that someone grab her arm.

Turning around, she saw Archie slip past holding a plate with a sandwich on it and then made eye contact with Lily.

"What are you going to say to her?" she almost growled.

Regina considered yanking her arm away, but she had a feeling that this hostility was probably justified, so she just replied, "I'm not exactly sure what I should say?"

The other brunette nodded slowly and said, "I assume that you're not here to yell at her?"

Regina sighed and slightly inclined her head, "I understand that I should have given her more of a chance…thank you for the message by the way…"

Lily smiled weakly as it became clear what had convinced her to come over. She had no doubt that if she read the essay the blonde had written, then she would rush over to come and make amends.

Letting go of her arm, she pointed to the door down the hall and said, "if she ever spends a month brooding in her room over you again, I will destroy you."

Regina felt a shock of fear shoot through her stomach, but a smile quickly adorned her face as she realised that Emma has someone who cared just as much about her as the parents should have.

Lily walked away, fixing her with a warning look and after a moment, Regina made her way to the door.

She held her fist up to the door, but stopped short of actually knocking.

The brunette hadn't seen her ex since the night they had broken up and right now, all she could imagine was a picture of her hurt expression when she had thrown the money at her.

She knew that she had a right to be royally pissed for the fact that she had accepted money to go out with her, but the fact that she didn't really give her a chance to talk about it was worse. Of course, she could never fully understand the insecurities of a girl who had spent her entire life in foster care, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have at least recognised that they were there.

Finally, she decided that she would figure out what to say once she saw her and all but forced her knuckles to rap against the door.

She waited a full two seconds before she knocked again, this time far less aggressively.

There was an audible groan on the other side of the door, and it soon swung open to reveal a blonde teen.

The first thing that Regina noticed was the slight swelling around her nose and she remembered having read somewhere that it could take six months for the nose to go back to how it was, assuming that Zelena's fist hadn't completely reshaped it.

The next was just how pale she looked and the brunette wondered just how much sunlight she had gotten in the past month, especially considering that she no longer even went out for school.

Her observation was cut short when Emma seemed to have finally decided that this was real, and said in a nervous tone, "I thought you was Lily…"

Regina smiled slightly at the sound of the voice she would only now admit that she had been missing so much, and shoved her hands into her pockets as she tried to think of a reply.

The pair stood in silence for a moment, before Emma stood back from the door and motioned into her room, "er..you can come in…if you want to…"

The brunette instantly took the offer and crossed the threshold, tilting her head at the bed, she went over to it and picked up the rather thick book.

"Why are you reading a pre-med text book?" she laughed while she turned the book around to show the other girl.

Emma grinned slightly and shrugged, "light reading."

Regina laughed openly and the blonde seemed to relax marginally.

Once she stopped, she turned the book over in her hand and threw it onto the bed and let a serious expression adorn her face, "…I'm an idiot…"

"That's just not true," Emma replied instantly, "I should have told you everything as soon as I realised I liked you…I was just…"

"Afraid that I would break up with you?" the brunette asked softly, she suddenly felt like the distance between them was oppressive, but she wasn't quite sure whether she should bridge the gap just yet.

"Yeah…guess I didn't think it all the way through…"

Regina nodded her agreement, but said, "I should have heard you through. Objectively, I should have realised that it wasn't just about the money when you scaled my house…"

"In your defence…I was high…"

"Because my sister broke your nose," Regina sighed, "no offence to Zelena, but I am pretty sure that you would have her beat if you were to fight back."

"So…what are you saying?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow, this was not at all how she had expected this conversation to go. The moment she had seen Regina at the door, she was sure that she was about to be yelled at, but this was very much calm. It was quite obvious that Regina had forgiven her for the money, but she wasn't sure whether that forgiveness meant what she wanted it to mean.

"I'm apologising for being inconsiderate…"

"You shouldn't be the one apologising…"

Regina held up her hand before Emma could say any more and continued, "I should have realised the reason that you didn't try and contact me…it was because I told you to leave me alone. You opened up to me about your past and I should have realised exactly what that meant."

The blonde nodded slowly and considered the other girl's words, she was certainly not expecting that, but then again, she wasn't particularly used to having told someone so much about herself. In fact, it was probably the reason that the break-up had hurt so much. She had told Regina some of the most painful things about her childhood and they had only been going out for three weeks. She had never trusted someone so completely and so quickly, which was why messing it up made her feel like a complete moron.

"What did make you…realise?" the blonde asked after a moment.

Regina sighed and replied, "well, Zelena was the first to suggest that I should consider forgiving you and then I was accosted by your best friend…"

Emma rolled her eyes and ran a hand over her face, before she asked, "what did Lily say?"

"She told me that you gave Killian the money back and…informed me of some of the more intricate parts of your psyche that I am incapable of understanding…she also sent me the appeal essay you wrote…"

The blonde's eyes widened comically and she all but flew across the room to her laptop sat on the bed.

Before she could reach down and grab it, Regina closed her hand around the taller girl's wrist and pulled her back up.

Emma blinked a few times, but then she swallowed hard when she saw just how close they were standing to each other.

After a moment of simply staring at each other, Emma said, "you haven't actually told me why you're here…"

Regina sighed contently, she had forgotten what it was like to be so close to the other girl.

She was beginning to wonder just how insane she had to be to have let this go and she brought both her hands around the blonde's neck.

"I came here to tell you to do your school work so that we can graduate together," she smirked.

After a second, Emma snaked her arms around the brunette's waist and mirrored her smile as she almost squeaked, "together?"

Regina nodded slowly and replied, "can we start over?"

Emma let out a relieved breath and said, "I would like nothing more."

With that as permission, Regina leaned up and captured her lips in a sweet and short peck.

When she came back down, she noted the dopey grin spread across the blonde's face and she laughed.

The taller girl remained like that for a moment before she furrowed her brow and asked, "so was that our new first kiss?"

"Yes," Regina replied instantly, "and you can pick me up for our new first date at eight."

"I don't think I can top the fake first one," Emma pouted.

The brunette laughed again and leaned up to kiss the pout off, "you have six hours to try," she whispered against her lips.

With that, she detached herself from the blonde and made her way out of the room.

Emma watched her go and fell heavily onto the bed, taking a deep breath, she considered whether that actually happened. After a dumbfounded moment, she grabbed her laptop and began looking for somewhere to take, hopefully, her girlfriend.

* * *

"Granny's?" Regina asked with a smirk.

Emma rolled her eyes and nodded as she parked the car, "I couldn't do a picnic again and there aren't many options without leaving town. I figured that I'm on thin ice with your parents, so this was pretty much the only optio-"

Before she could finish her last word, she was shut up by a pair of lips covering hers and when Regina leaned back, the brunette said in explanation, "you looked like you needed to relax."

The blonde nodded and blinked a couple of times, before she coughed and said, "good call…so you're alright going here?"

"This is supposed to be a first date; you're supposed to be learning stuff about me so that you can make the next one perfect."

"Next one?" Emma asked excitedly.

"We'll see," Regina smirked, before she opened the car door and proceeded towards the diner.

Emma took a deep breath, before she did the same and quickly caught up with her.

Five minutes later, the pair were seated in a booth waiting for their order and Emma tapped her fingers as she desperately tried to think of something to say.

"I'm guessing that you wouldn't be as impressed by me reciting sonnets this time," she asked with a smirk.

Regina chuckled and shook her head, "it wouldn't have quite the same impact."

Emma nodded slowly and continued tapping her fingers against the table until Regina reached across and placed her hand over the blonde's restless one.

"You don't need to be nervous…"

The other girl laughed and shook her head, "how can you be so calm about this?"

"Because I already know that I enjoy your company. All we have to do is start again with no lies," Regina replied.

Emma thought about this for a second and relaxed as she turned her hand over to intertwine their fingers.

"So what do you want to talk about?" the blonde asked after a moment.

Regina thought about this for a moment and she was about to say 'no idea', but a ding came from Emma's jacket pocket and she tilted her head curiously.

The blonde furrowed her brow, she was just going to ignore it, but she had this feeling deep in her stomach that it was important, so she pulled the phone out.

Her eyes scanned the e-mail once and then a few more times before her mouth fell open and she read it once more.

Regina watched her facial expression change and finally couldn't take it anymore, "what is it?" she laughed.

Emma placed the phone on the table and slid it across, the brunette's eyes fell onto the message and she read it as fast as she could.

"You applied for NYU?" she asked when she finally looked up, her mouth slightly agape.

The blonde nodded slowly and said, "I thought it would be worth a shot…they put me on a waiting list though and I assumed that it would never happen. Apparently, my essay convinced them to let me go for an interview next week…"

"Well, it was a pretty good essay," Regina smirked, she could feel excitement flooding her system at the thought of attending the same college as Emma. They had been back together for a matter of hours and she couldn't even remember why she would have even considered not being with her. She couldn't see any reason why they still wouldn't be together when they went to college, and it would just make it all that much more awesome. Blinking a couple of times, she reminded herself that this was moving ridiculously fast again, but this time, she didn't find it as strange. The blonde looked much relaxed without the secret weighing on her mind, and though Regina didn't think it was possible, she found that it made like her that much more.

"It must have been pretty awesome, it got me an interview and a girl…" Emma choked and blush engulfed her cheeks and she began shaking her head.

Regina allowed her to sputter for another moment before she reached across the table and clasped her hand again and said, "you gained an interview and a girlfriend. You should really thank Lily for all of this."

The blonde grinned from ear to ear and was about to lean forward for a triumphant kiss, but two plates being placed on the table stopped the action.

Both girls thanked the waitress and when she walked away they smiled at each other.

"How is it that you make everything so…perfect?" Emma asked after a moment. Regina shot her a confused look and the blonde elaborated, "whenever we're together, everything seems to fall into place…It's like none of the previous crap matters…"

"That's an awful lot of responsibility, Swan," Regina smirked, Emma frowned, but the brunette leaned across the tabled and connected their lips. She leaned back and said, "assuming that you don't do anything incredibly stupid again, I'm willing to bear it."

"I'll try," Emma sighed contently.

"I suppose that this means our next date will have to be a study session," Regina smirked.

Emma tilted her head and popped a French fry in her mouth, "probably, but we would actually have to study if you want to have more 'study sessions' in college."

The brunette rolled her eyes playfully and mumbled, "kill joy," while she reached over and stole a fry.

The blonde just laughed and began wondering just how some insane plan could have resulted in this much happiness.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed this fic XD**

 **Please let me know what you thought of this admittedly very fluffy chapter, I don't know why, but it just felt right to me, but sorry if you were expecting more drama...**

 **I need to thank QueenApples, my beta for her usual help and PerditusFic for answering all my random questions XD**


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